THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has announced a probe against IAS officer N Prasanth for allegedly misbehaving with a woman journalist over WhatsApp. The probe was ordered last week against the 2007 batch officer, who is currently the managing director of Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC).
Home secretary T K Jose has been appointed as the inquiry officer and he will submit the report to the government within a month. In her complaint, the journalist who is employed with a vernacular daily, had alleged that the “officer responded with abusive replies and emojis” when she tried to get his response on an allegation regarding the deep-sea fishing project.
KSINC had signed an MoU with US-based EMCC International Pvt Ltd to develop deep-sea fishing trawlers. The deal courted controversy after the Opposition alleged that it violated the rights of fishermen. The government later cancelled the MoU. When the deal became controversial, the government maintained that it was Prasanth who was providing the documents pertaining to the deal to Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.
Chennithala had effectively used the documents to corner the government in the run-up to the assembly polls. Since Prasanth had worked as Chennithala’s private secretary when the latter was home minister, it reinforced the government’s perception that it was he who was leaking documents. The government had maintained that the MoU was signed without its consent and that the release of the documents pointed towards a conspiracy.