The Kerala government on Monday suspended two officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on disciplinary grounds.

K Gopalakrishnan, director of Industries and Commerce, faced the action over a religion-based WhatsApp group for government officials. N Prashanth, the Agriculture Development and Farmers’ Welfare department’s special secretary was suspended after he criticised and made serious allegations against Additional Chief Secretary Dr. A Jayathilak.

Gopalakrishnan, a 2013-batch officer, has been embroiled in a controversy, following the formation of a WhatsApp group called “Mallu Hindu Officers. The group was started on Diwali day, with Gopalakrishnan allegedly sending invites to not just serving Hindu IAS officers but also retired chief secretaries belonging to the community. After the issue snowballed into a major controversy, 11 WhatsApp groups that were created in his name were deleted.

On November 4, Gopalakrishnan filed a complaint with the Thiruvananthapuram City Police 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.

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.

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.”

Prasanth, a 2007-batch IAS officer, 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. Prasanth had accused Jayathilak of damaging the careers and lives of subordinates who did not comply with his instructions.

He went further labeling his superior as mentally unstable and referring to him as a “psychopath”. The remarks came after Jayathilak accused Prasanth of fabricating attendance records and consistently neglecting his duties as Special Secretary in the SC/ST Department. Despite prior warnings, Prasanth persisted with his online criticisms over the weekend, leading to a report from the Chief Secretary and his eventual suspension.

Responding to the development, N Prasanth stated that he would respond to the suspension order once he received it. In his initial comments, he denied intentionally violating any rules and emphasized that he was exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression. Prasanth further clarified that he had not personally insulted anyone and that he was entitled to use language freely.

Prasanth further said this was the first suspension of his life, adding that he had never faced such action even during his school or college days. He argued that it was unjust to target someone simply for expressing their views.