Government offices are usually associated with red-tapism and towering stacks of dusty files. However, a government office in Malappuram, Kerala, recently transformed into the stage for a real-life Tom and Jerry chase, complete with a dramatic climax.

The highly entertaining episode, captured on camera by an alert staff member, has taken the internet by storm, racking up over 16 million views across social media platforms in just five days. Filmed at the Minor Irrigation Division office inside the Malappuram Civil Station, the video has garnered over 10.8 million views on Instagram and upwards of 5.3 million views on Facebook.

The drama began with a rodent that had made the office its playground. According to Roshan Areekode, the employee who filmed the now-famous video, the cheeky rat had a fixed daily routine. Every afternoon at around 3.15 pm, the rodent would peek out from the top of an office rack, almost as if it were taking a head count of the staff. It would then scurry through the cabinets, gnawing on papers. With important official files at risk, the staff lived in constant fear of losing crucial records to the rodent's sharp teeth.

Getting rid of the intruder posed a unique challenge. Setting a traditional rat trap was dismissed because disposing of the trapped rodent felt like too much of an unpleasant chore. Using rat poison was also ruled out, as the staff dreaded the prospect of the rodent crawling behind heavy steel cupboards before its death.

With mechanical and chemical solutions out of the window, the staff decided to rely on a cat. A stray cat that the employees regularly petted had recently given birth to three kittens on the first floor of the building. The staff brought the mother cat into the office and pointed her towards the target area. The feline immediately went into predator mode, aggressively manoeuvring through the maze of files to corner the rat. Unlike the cartoon character Tom, this Malappuram feline made no mistakes, catching the rat to secure a hearty meal for her kittens.

Roshan had captured the entire incident on his phone and uploaded it to social media just for fun. He never expected the video to blow up the way it did. Netizens have flooded the comment section, praising the office's highly efficient and eco-friendly approach to pest control.