Religious Whatsapp group for bureaucrats: IAS officer's phone reset

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police on Saturday said that the phone of the IAS officer, whose WhatsApp account was used to create a religious group, was completely reset and therefore, forensics could not ascertain whether it was hacked as claimed by him.

Amidst reports quoting police suggesting that the IAS officer's phone was not hacked, Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Sparjan Kumar said that it remains unclear whether the device was compromised, as it had been "reset".

He also said that he had given a report regarding the matter to the State Police Chief, DGP Shaik Darvesh Saheb.

The DGP's office said that the report was confidential and would be forwarded to the state government.

The police investigated the matter following a complaint by the IAS officer alleging that his personal WhatsApp number was hacked and used to create a religious group.

In the controversial WhatsApp group, officers from various communities were added, and the group was labelled as a Hindu community group.

Upon noticing this, the officer immediately lodged a complaint and dismantled the group. In his complaint, he stated that he had not added any officers to the group in question.