Suspended IAS Officer N. Prasanth to Appear Before Kerala Chief Secretary on April 16.
Thiruvananthapuram: Suspended IAS officer N. Prasanth (2007 batch) is scheduled to appear before Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan (1990 batch) on April 16, as part of ongoing disciplinary proceedings. The hearing will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the Chief Secretary’s chamber, with audio-visual recording permitted, following a request by Prasanth.
Prasanth was suspended in November 2024 after he made serious allegations against senior bureaucrats, including Additional Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak (1991 batch), IAS officer K. Gopalakrishnan (2013 batch), and Chief Secretary Muraleedharan herself. He had also served them with legal notices, accusing them of fabricating charges and conspiring against him.
In a detailed response submitted to the state government in February, Prasanth denied all allegations and requested a digitally recorded, live-streamed hearing, which has reportedly been approved. Acknowledging the notice for the upcoming hearing issued on April 4, Prasanth thanked the Chief Secretary for granting him the opportunity and upholding transparency through video documentation.
The controversy centers around an inquiry report allegedly prepared by Jayathilak, which accused Prasanth of being responsible for missing documents linked to the Unnathi project during his tenure as CEO, irregularities in his attendance records, and violations of service conduct, including making derogatory social media posts.
Prasanth continues to assert that the case against him is built on unreliable digital evidence and lacks procedural and legal merit. He claims his suspension was orchestrated by Jayathilak and Gopalakrishnan and has pointed to inconsistencies in the disciplinary process.
In December 2024, Prasanth escalated the issue by issuing a legal notice to his IAS colleagues and a prominent Malayalam newspaper, accusing them of document fabrication, criminal conspiracy, and abetment. He also wrote to the Chief Secretary seeking clarification on the charges outlined in the disciplinary memo.
In January 2025, the Kerala government extended Prasanth’s suspension while simultaneously revoking the suspension of K. Gopalakrishnan, who had been facing unrelated disciplinary action.
