The Kerala government has decided to investigate the controversial Hindu IAS WhatsApp group, following the complaint of a fellow IAS officer who said his number was used to form the group. Stressing that this is against the general code of conduct for IAS officers, the government said it would look into the matter and take appropriate action.
State Industries Minister P Rajeeve said the government will probe the controversial group following the complaint of another official, identified as K Gopalakrishnan, who said his personal WhatsApp number was hacked to form the group. Rajeeve described the incident as serious and said the division within the community is very worrying.
“The government will investigate this matter. There is a general code of conduct for IAS officers, which falls under the Public Administration Department. We are currently investigating the situation. Let us see and determine what needs to be done,” he told reporters.
The complainant, K Gopalakrishnan, had filed a complaint with the Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner, seeking an inquiry into the matter. According to a source close to the officer, several officers were added to the group which was subsequently labeled as a Hindu community group.
When the officer noticed this, he immediately filed a complaint and dismantled the group. In his complaint, he stated that he had not added any officers to the group in question. The incident took place three days ago, sources said.
The groups formed based on Gopalakrishnan’s number have names like ‘Mallu Hindu officers’ and ‘Mallu Muslim officers’, which has sparked controversy. The officer said he only found out about this after a friend alerted him.
The officer said multiple groups had been created without his knowledge based on his contact information. Officers from his contact list were also added to the groups without his knowledge.
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