The Kerala government on Monday suspended Kerala Industries and Commerce Director and IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan, who have been at the centre of a controversy following the formation of a WhatsApp group called “Mallu Hindu Officers”.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took the decision to suspend the IAS officer based on reports from Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, Indian Express reported.

The “Mallu Hindu Officers” WhatsApp group was formed on October 30 and it had added senior IAS officers, who were Hindu, as its members. It was deleted within hours of its creation as several officials flagged the impropriety of such a group. Days later, Gopalakrishnan filed a police complaint claiming that the group was created after his phone was hacked, and that several other groups, including one called “Mallu Muslim Officers”, had also been created.

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However, the order suspending Gopalakrishnan said that a police investigation revealed there was “no evidence indicating that the device was hacked” as he had claimed. “It is also revealed that repeated factory reset of the mobile phone was done by the officer (Gopalakrishnan) himself before submitting his phones for forensic examination,” the order stated, IE reported.

According to the order, the government is of the view that the WhatsApp group “was intended to foment division, sow disunity and break the solidarity within the cadres of the All India Services in the state. It was also prima facie found to be creating communal formations and alignments within the cadres of the All India Services in the state.”

Along with Gopalakrishnan, a 2013-batch officer, the state government also suspended Agriculture Department Special Secretary N Prasanth, a 2007-batch officer. He caused a stir over the last three days after taking to social media and making multiple posts against another IAS officer, Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak.

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Before the suspension order was passed, Revenue Minister K Rajan had said that the government would “not allow officials to act as they feel… Officials will have to work as per norms and procedure”.

Reacting to his suspension, Prasanth said the action was taken without seeking an explanation from him. “I have not criticised the government. The fake report against me was published in Mathrubhumi only to divert attention. There was a conspiracy behind it,” he said, IE reported.