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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan is likely to be in the dock over creating WhatsApp groups of Hindu and Muslim IAS officers.
A preliminary probe by the police did not find any evidence to prove the officer's claim that his phones were hacked. Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner Sparjan Kuamar submitted a factual report in this regard to state police chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb. It will be forwarded to the government for further action.
Police sources said the WhatsApp authorities and state police forensic wings gave reports that no evidence for hacking the two phones of the officer could be retrieved.
WhatsApp authorities maintained that since the officer himself deleted the 11 controversial WhatsApp groups created from his phones, details regarding the origin of those groups could not be retrieved. State police forensic authorities maintained that since the IAS officer had reset the phones, no evidence of hacking could not be retrieved. Police was also learnt to have received evidence from internet service providers that contradicts the IAS officer's claim.
"It could not be inconclusively said from both the reports whether the phones were hacked or not. But the IAS officer will have to explain why he reset the phones," a police officer told DH.
Gopalakrishnan, who is a 2013 batch IAS officer, is now serving as Kerala industries department director. The controversy triggered after many IAS officers raised objections against creating a WhatsApp group of 'Mallu Hindu Officers' on October 31. Gopalakrishnan, who was the administrator of the group, said that his phone was hacked and 11 groups, including that of Muslim officers, were formed without his knowledge. He subsequently deleted the WhatsApp groups and sought a police probe.
Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad backed Gopalakrishnan by maintaining that he was being targeted even after he stated that the groups were made by hacking his phone.