Kerala IAS officer booked for allegedly sending lewd messages to a woman journalist

New Delhi, September 7

The Kerala Police registered an FIR against IAS official N Prasanth for sending inappropriate messages to a woman journalist. 

Following a complaint filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the bureaucrat has been charged with insulting the modesty of a woman under Indian Penal Code section 509

According to the police, the incident took place two months before the April 6 Assembly polls when the opposition was going hammer and tongs at the ruling Pinarayi Vijayan government over a contract between the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation and a private player for handing over rights of fishing and building boats. 

Prasanth was the managing director of the corporation and the journalist had called on his mobile but after getting no response sent a message asking for his comments on the issue. 

The media in Kerala while reporting the incident, KP Pravitha, a reporter with Mathrubhumi newspaper, texted Prasanth, introducing herself and seeking his reply. In the screenshots of the WhatsApp messages that have surfaced, the journalist could be seen asking whether it was a good time to talk regarding a news story. To this Prasanth replied with just a sticker of a man with a mocking expression. When the reporter replied to that stating, “It is not to harm you. Just to know what you have to say,” Prasanth replied with a sticker of an actor's back. When the reporter questioned what kind of a response that was, the IAS officer replied with yet another sticker.

The police added that the journalist body took up the issue with CM Vijayan, who forwarded the complaint to the police to conduct a detailed probe and take appropriate action.