A civil servant must always conduct himself in a model manner in both his public as well as private life, and always weigh his options before doing something which could potentially ruin his career and his life. IAS K. Gopalakrishnan learned this lesson the hard way as he was recently suspended on charges of creating a religion-based WhatsApp group called ‘Mallu Hindu Officers’, which allegedly sowed disunity and created communal groupings within the prestigious IAS cadre.
K. Gopalakrishnan is a 2013 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, who was serving as the Director of Industries and Commerce in Kerala before being suspended from service on November 11, 2024, over charges of creating communal WhatsApp group.
Hailing from a farming family in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, IAS K. Gopalakrishnan has a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and a post graduate degree in Financial Management. Both his parents, Kaliyanan and Selvamani, still work as farmers in their native village,
Gopalakrishnan’s wife, Deepa, is a housewife, and the couple have two children, Athira and Visakhan.
IAS K. Gopalakrishnan is accused of creating a communally-divisive WhatsApp group for Malayali Hindu bureaucrats ”Mallu Hindu Officers’, that created communal divisions and disunity within the IAS community. Several media reports, citing forensic investigation, claimed that WhatsApp and Google said that no unusual activity was recorded in their applications till October 31, but investigations revealed that Gopalakrishnan had factory reset his phone on several occasions, thereby deleting important data.
The issue came to light on October 31, when some IAS officers of Kerala cadre were added to the new WhatsApp group, allegedly created by Gopalakrishnan, who has claimed that someone hacked his phone and used the device to commit acts of cyber crime.
However, a preliminary inquiry Thiruvananthapuram City police found evidence of hacking on Gopalakrishnan’s phone. Gopalakrishnan admitted to formatting his phone, which made it impossible for the police to detect any signs of a cyber attack
On November 11, 2024, IAS K. Gopalakrishnan was suspended from service, pending further inquiry into the allegations.
Who is IAS K. Gopalakrishnan?
K. Gopalakrishnan is a 2013 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, who was serving as the Director of Industries and Commerce in Kerala before being suspended from service on November 11, 2024, over charges of creating communal WhatsApp group.
Hailing from a farming family in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, IAS K. Gopalakrishnan has a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and a post graduate degree in Financial Management. Both his parents, Kaliyanan and Selvamani, still work as farmers in their native village,
Gopalakrishnan’s wife, Deepa, is a housewife, and the couple have two children, Athira and Visakhan.
What’s the case?
IAS K. Gopalakrishnan is accused of creating a communally-divisive WhatsApp group for Malayali Hindu bureaucrats ”Mallu Hindu Officers’, that created communal divisions and disunity within the IAS community. Several media reports, citing forensic investigation, claimed that WhatsApp and Google said that no unusual activity was recorded in their applications till October 31, but investigations revealed that Gopalakrishnan had factory reset his phone on several occasions, thereby deleting important data.
The issue came to light on October 31, when some IAS officers of Kerala cadre were added to the new WhatsApp group, allegedly created by Gopalakrishnan, who has claimed that someone hacked his phone and used the device to commit acts of cyber crime.
However, a preliminary inquiry Thiruvananthapuram City police found evidence of hacking on Gopalakrishnan’s phone. Gopalakrishnan admitted to formatting his phone, which made it impossible for the police to detect any signs of a cyber attack
On November 11, 2024, IAS K. Gopalakrishnan was suspended from service, pending further inquiry into the allegations.