Phone data erased, can't determine if hacked or not: 'Mallu Hindu' Whatsapp group probe
The group was created on October 31 using Kerala IAS officer Gopalakrishnan's mobile phone number.
The group was created on October 31 using Kerala IAS officer Gopalakrishnan's mobile phone number.
The group was created on October 31 using Kerala IAS officer Gopalakrishnan's mobile phone number.
Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner G Sparjan Kumar, who headed the probe into the complaint filed by Kerala IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan, saying that his phone was hacked, furnished a report to the state police chief on Friday saying that it was unable to find out if the phone was hacked. Gopalakrishnan filed a plaint regarding his phone being hacked after a controversy erupted over the formation of religion-based Whatsapp groups using his mobile number.
The Commissioner based the report on the findings of the cyber forensics team, which informed that since the phone was formatted, they couldn't determine whether the device was hacked or not. Sparjan Kumar said that the police also did not receive any useful information from Google or WhatsApp to find out if any third-party app or malware was installed on K Gopalakrishnan's phone. According to police officials, they are now waiting for a direction from the state government to initiate a further probe into why the phone was formatted.
The police team earlier sent an email to Google and WhatsApp to find out if an external link or app was activated on the phone. The phone was received from Gopalakrishnan on Tuesday evening. He filed a complaint about hacking the device after a row erupted over the formation of WhatsApp groups based on religion. A WhatsApp group named 'Mallu Hindu officers' was created on October 31 using Gopalakrishnan's mobile phone number.
Some of the IAS officers who were added to the group objected to the nature of the group based on religion. Later, Gopalakrishnan came up with a clarification that his phone was hacked. In his message to group members, he said, " It appears that someone has taken control of my mobile device, creating 11 groups and adding all my contacts. I have uninstalled the app and manually removed the groups from my WhatsApp, and I will be changing my phone soon''.
Whatsapp has already informed the police that only live groups can be tracked and that no information can be provided on deleted groups.