IAS officer tried to mislead WA groups probe: Report

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A report submitted by Kerala Police to state government, accessed by TOI, termed the actions of IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan, who was suspended for creating WhatsApp groups with communal overtones, as "suspicious". The report, submitted to home secretary, details a scientific investigation indicating that Gopalakrishnan not only gave false statements and tampered with the evidence, but also misled authorities by surrendering another mobile phone which was not used to create the WhatsApp groups.

According to Gopalakrishnan's statement to police, he panicked upon discovering the creation of WhatsApp groups titled "Mallu Hindu Off" and "Mallu Muslim Off" from his WhatsApp account. He claimed that he switched off his mobile phone. This incident took place on Oct 31.

Gopalakrishnan, on being asked by the investigators, surrendered his Apple iPhone 12 Pro on Nov 5. However, the cops discovered that the device had no WhatsApp installed in it. When confronted, Gopalakrishnan subsequently presented a Samsung SM-S711B/DS the next day, which did have WhatsApp account in question, the report said.

The report said that further scientific scrutiny revealed the Samsung device underwent a factory reset on Nov 3, followed by two additional resets on Nov 6. The iPhone was also reset on November 5.

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