Cops: Phone not hacked to create 'Mallu Officers' WA groups

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Police investigation into the creation of controversial WhatsApp groups " Mallu Hindu Officers " and " Mallu Muslim Officers " among IAS cadre in Kerala has revealed that the mobile phone used to create these groups - belonging to IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan - was not hacked. The groups were created on Oct 30, and their communal nature raised serious concerns about religious divisions within the civil service.

Police reached this conclusion after collaborating with three sources - WhatsApp, Google, and the officer's Internet Service Provider (ISP) - and technical analysis, contradicting the officer's claims of his phone being compromised.

The creation of these groups had kicked up a debate on the role of public servants in maintaining the secular fabric of society.

The city police commissioner has submitted a report to Kerala DGP, revealing that the phone remained secure when the groups were created. The state police chief will hand over the report to govt, and the focus now has shifted to how the govt would respond.

According to the report, WhatsApp confirmed that the groups were created from its application installed on the IAS officer's device.

Google confirmed that no unauthorised applications were installed on the device, ruling out any remote control attempts by third parties, while an analysis of the IP data transfer also supported the conclusion that no other device was controlling Gopalakrishnan's phone.

Despite these findings, police now plan to conduct a forensic analysis of the phone, but expectations of any new evidence are low as the device was formatted before being handed over for investigation. The formatting raises a new layer of legal complications, as it could lead to charges of tampering with evidence.