THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries and commerce director K Gopalakrishnan has courted controversy over a WhatsApp group ‘Mallu Hindu Off’ with Hindu bureaucrats as members that he allegedly created. The IAS officer’s colleagues had received WhatsApp notifications of being added to the group.
The group was reportedly started on Diwali day, with Gopalakrishnan allegedly sending invites to not just serving Hindu IAS officers but also retired chief secretaries belonging to the community. After the issue snowballed into a major controversy, 11 WhatsApp groups that were created in his name were deleted.
Maintaining that his phone had been hacked, Gopalakrishnan told TNIE that the groups were not created by him. He said ‘Mallu Muslim Off’ was among the groups that were created in his name.
The majority of the bureaucrats received a WhatsApp notification on Thursday informing them of being added to the ‘Mallu Hindu Off’ group.
A middle-level bureaucrat with over a decade-long experience told TNIE that he was caught off-guard when he received a notification from Gopalakrishnan former Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram district collector informing him of being added to the WhatsApp group.
“I was intrigued by the name of the group, ‘Mallu Hindu Off’, when I received the notification on Thursday. By the time I decided to call Gopalakrishnan, he had deleted the group,” the bureaucrat said.
‘Came to know of groups when alerted by a bureaucrat’
“I understand that 11 WhatsApp groups had not just junior and senior bureaucrats as members, but even former chief secretary Nalini Netto,” said the bureaucrat.
Gopalakrishnan told TNIE that he came to know of the WhatsApp groups when a bureaucrat alerted him about it. “Apart from Hindu officers’ group, there has also been Muslim officer’s group. After being alerted by a bureaucrat, I deleted all the 11 WhatsApp groups,” said Gopalakrishnan.
Although Gopalakrishnan said that his phone was hacked and that he filed a complaint with the police, both the Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner and the cyber police noted that they have not received any formal complaint.
Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner Sparjan Kumar said there are no official complaints on record, but if they receive any email concerning the issue, it will be reviewed.
It is learnt that a few officials alerted Gopalakrishnan about the propriety of forming such a group, which they feared would only help create division among them. He immediately came out with a message stating that someone had hacked his phone.
The message was that 11 WhatsApp groups were formed by adding the phone numbers of officers. His colleagues were informed that all the groups had been deleted manually and that the phone would be changed soon.
Meanwhile, a senior IAS official defended the move to form ‘Mallu Hindu Off’. He said there’s nothing wrong in Gopalakrishnan forming WhatsApp groups.
“Why should anyone be hostile to a person who is a member of a Hindu WhatsApp group? Any group formation is discretionary. To partake or not is also discretionary. I don’t see it as an issue unless the group plots against the country or others”, said a senior bureaucrat.
Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan remained incommunicado when TNIE tried to reach her. It’s reliably learnt that she would initiate an enquiry into the controversy on Monday.