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Journalism of Courage
Senior Kerala police officers say they have found little to substantiate Director of Industries and Commerce K Gopalakrishnan’s claim that his phone was hacked before new WhatsApp groups, with him as the admin, were created for IAS officers, allegedly on the basis of religion.
On October 30, a WhatsApp group called “Mallu Hindu Officers” was formed, in which senior IAS officers were added as members, and Gopalakrishnan was the admin. It was deleted hours later as several officials flagged the impropriety of such a group.
As the issue snowballed into a controversy, Gopalakrishnan said his phone was hacked after which 11 groups, including one called “Mallu Muslim Officers”, were formed.
On November 4, the IAS officer filed a complaint with the Thiruvananthapuram city police, reiterating his claim.
Police subsequently sought a report from WhatsApp as part of their investigation to determine whether the phone was hacked.
“The report from WhatsApp has not conclusively proved that the mobile phone was hacked. The forensic report of the mobile phone also said the gadget was reset three or four times. The officer (Gopalakrishnan) sticks to his version that the mobile phone was hacked, but there is no answer on why the gadget was reset. Since all data was deleted, we could not find much to back the claim that the phone was hacked,” a senior police officer said.
Police sources said a report has been submitted to the DGP, and that it is now up to the government to take a decision.
Gopalakrishnan declined to comment on the issue, saying he would only do so after getting the police report on his complaint.
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