An IAS officer in Kerala has filed a complaint with the police after multiple WhatsApp groups with religious names were created with him as the group admin.
The groups were created using the phone number of IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan, the director of industries and commerce in state government, has sparked a row for its sectarian nature. The groups had names like ‘mallu Hindu officers’ and ‘mallu muslim officers’.
In his complaint, the officer said he became aware of these groups after a friend called and informed of their existence. He said multiple groups were created from his contact without his knowledge.
According to police sources, other officers from his contact list were also added to these groups without his knowledge.
The police started an investigation into the matter, based on the complaint by the officer.
It is speculated that the officer's mobile phone was hacked and the two WhatsApp groups were created after that.
A screenshot of the WhatsApp group shows that several senior IAS officers belonging to the Hindu community were added to the group.
An IAS officer of 2013 batch, Gopalakrishnan hails from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. He earlier posted as the district collector of Thiruvananthapuram, CEO of Jalanidhi, director of National Health Mission. Apart from the industries and commerce, Gopalakrishnan is in charge of the Scheduled Castes Development Department.