Thiruvananthapuram: In a surprising move, N Prasanth IAS, who was suspended as the Special Secretary in the Agriculture Department, has sent a letter to the Chief Secretary seeking an explanation regarding the charge memo issued against him. This is the first time an IAS officer has dared to question the government's disciplinary action.

Prasanth, popularly known as 'Collector Bro' during his tenure as Kozhikode Collector, was suspended from service on November 11 for his social media remarks against senior official and Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak, as well as former Director of Industries K Gopalakrishnan.

In his letter to Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, Prasanth demanded a valid reason for his suspension, emphasising that neither Jayathilak nor Gopalakrishnan had filed a complaint against him regarding the so-called controversial social media posts. 

His seven 'key questions' to the government are as follows:

1. Who complained against me over the social media remarks?
2. Why did the government not give me the opportunity to provide an explanation before issuing the suspension order?
3. Who collected my Facebook posts?
4. Name the social media account from which my posts were collected.
5. Did the government assign an official to collect my posts?
6. Why did the government include screenshots shared by a private party in the charge memo?
7. Did the government examine the social media pages under the IT Act and verify that they were not fake?

The IAS officer said he would respond to the charge memo only after receiving answers to these questions. It is learned that Prasanth's move has irked the government. The chief secretary issued the charge memo on December 5.

As per the memo, Prasanth's comments on social media, where he allegedly referred to Additional Chief Secretary Jayathilak as a "psychopath," were prima facie considered a breach of conduct. While the memo did not include acts of insubordination, the remarks against Jayathilak constituted a violation of conduct rules.

Meanwhile, Prasanth has sent a legal notice to Jayathilak, Gopalakrishnan, and the Chief Secretary, accusing them of deliberately fabricating documents, orchestrating false news reports, and defamation to damage his reputation. The notice alleges that documents implicating Prasanth in the disappearance of key files related to the Unnathi project were fabricated.

It claims that the alleged letters, purportedly authored by K Gopalakrishnan and addressed to Dr. Jayathilak, lacked official letterheads, numbering, and proper protocols, suggesting potential post-facto manipulation. These letters were reportedly uploaded to the government’s e-Office portal on the same date, raising questions about their authenticity.