Uttar Pradesh politician misidentified as KIIT suicide case accused’s father
The Verdict [False]
The man in the viral image is a local politician from Lucknow and is not related to the accused in the KIIT suicide case.
(Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of suicide. Reader discretion is advised.)
What is the claim?
An image of a man wearing an orange shawl, flanked by three others, has gone viral online, claiming that it shows Manoj Srivastava, father of Advik Srivastava. Advik, a 21-year-old student, has been arrested after his batchmate died by suicide at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University (KIIT) in the Indian state of Odisha's Bhubaneswar.
Several social media users shared an image of a Facebook profile named 'ManojK Srivastava,' stating that Srivastava “leads a BJP junior wing” and is a “famous builder in Lucknow." We found that the claim first surfaced on Reddit, and while the original post has been deleted, a screenshot of the post was shared on other social media platforms.
Archived versions of similar posts can be found here, here, and here.
The university has seen massive protests since February 15, 2025, after the death of a 20-year-old Nepalese student in her hostel room following alleged harassment by a fellow student, Advik Srivastava. Hundreds of students staged protests against the university management, demanding a thorough investigation. Initially, faced with protests, the university decided to send the students back to Nepal, but after an intervention from the Nepal Embassy and the Nepalese Prime Minister, this decision was rescinded. The Odisha government has formed a fact-finding committee, and police have arrested Advik and four others.
However, the man in the now-viral image is not Advik's father and is unrelated to the KIIT suicide case. We found that the man, Manoj Srivastava, is a local politician from Lucknow, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
What did we find?
A keyword search on Facebook led us to the account mentioned in the viral image, which belongs to a man named Manoj Srivastava . His bio states that he is from Lucknow and is the national president of Bharatiya Kesariya Vahini, a local Hindu outfit. We also found that the same person has another Facebook account (archived here) with the same name. This account’s bio mentions that Srivastava is a social worker and founder of the Uttar Pradesh-based political party Rashtravyapi Janata Party.
A reverse image search of the viral image led us to another Facebook account, 'Manoj Srivastava Fan Club', which posted a similar picture (archived here) on August 10, 2023. The post has been shared without a caption and adds no context to the image.
Further search led us to a video shared by Srivastava on his YouTube channel (archived here) on February 18, 2025. In the video, he clarified that he is not related to the KIIT student accused and his son is not studying at any engineering college in Odisha.
In the video, he can be heard saying, “Recently, in Odisha, a third-year Nepali student at an engineering college in Bhubaneswar was killed, and a boy named Advik Srivastava was arrested as the main accused. Now, social media and news reports are claiming that Advik Srivastava is my son. I want to clarify through social media that none of my sons are studying at an engineering college in Odisha. I have no connection to that boy in any way. I also request the Odisha police to conduct a thorough investigation."
The same video can be found on both his Facebook accounts (archived here and here).
Odisha, Pinak Mishra, saying that the accused is the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Lucknow. Another report by the same outlet published on the same day states that the accused is the son of a civil engineer from Lucknow. However, none of these reports mentioned the name of the accused's father.
We also contacted the Bhubaneswar Police and Mahendra Kumar Sahu, inspector in charge of the Infocity Police Station in Bhubaneswar, who told us that the viral claim is false. He added that the accused’s father is a civil engineer in Lucknow, not the person seen in the viral image.
The verdict
A politician from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, named Manoj Srivastava, has been falsely identified as the father of the accused in the KIIT suicide case.
(This story was originally published by logicallyfacts.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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UDF leaders see local body poll trends as pointer to 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Buoyed by the strong performance of the Congress-led UDF in the local body polls, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the front's results indicated the people had rejected the LDF government.
According to early trends, the UDF was leading in more grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations than the LDF.
The local body polls were held in two phases in the state earlier this week.
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Speaking to reporters here, Joseph said the people of Kerala had extended their support to the UDF.
"We could expose the LDF government’s anti-people stance and the people understood it. The LDF’s fake propaganda was rejected by the people. The UDF is moving towards a historic victory," he said.
He said a united effort, proper preparations, good candidate selection and hard work had resulted in the Congress and the UDF’s victory in the elections.
Asked about the prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Joseph said the party was studying the matter and would comment later.
LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the results would be closely examined.
According to him, the government had done everything possible for the people.
"Why such a verdict happened will be examined at the micro level. People’s opinion will be considered and further steps will be taken," he said.
He added that decisions would be taken after analysing the results. "If any corrective measures are required, we will initiate them and move forward," he said.
AICC leader K C Venugopal said the results showed that people had begun ousting those who, he alleged, were responsible for the loss of gold at Lord Ayyappa’s temple.
"This trend will continue in the Assembly elections as well. It is an indication that the people are ready to bring down the LDF government," he said.
Venugopal said the UDF had registered victories even in CPI(M) and LDF strongholds.
"I congratulate all UDF workers for their hard work. Congress workers and leaders worked unitedly," he said.
Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Congress on polling day, Venugopal said the voters had responded through the verdict.
"I do not know whether the chief minister understands that the people are against him. Otherwise, he does not know the sentiment of the people. The state government cannot move an inch further," he said.
He said the results indicated a strong comeback for the UDF in Kerala.
Asked whether the Sabarimala gold loss issue had affected the LDF in the local polls, Venugopal said the CM and the CPI(M) state secretary did not take the issue seriously.
"We took a strong stand on the matter. The BJP played a foul game in it," he alleged.
On the BJP's role in the local body elections, Venugopal alleged that the party operated with the CPI(M) 's tacit support.
"The CPI(M) supported the central government on issues such as PM-SHRI, labour codes and corruption in national highway construction. The CPI(M) is facing ideological decline, and the state government’s policies are against the party’s own decisions," he said.
Meanwhile, LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani said the party could not win all the wards it had expected in the elections.
He congratulated winners from all parties and said the party would closely examine the losses and identify shortcomings. "Later, we will take corrective measures," he added.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the trends in the local body elections indicated that the UDF would return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.
"We will win 111 seats as in 1977 and return to power in 2026. The anti-government sentiment of the people is reflected in the elections," he said.
Unnithan said the people were disturbed and unhappy with the present government.
"The trend indicates the end of the LDF government," he added.
CPI(M) MLA M M Mani said the people had shown ingratitude towards the LDF despite benefiting from welfare schemes.
"After receiving all welfare schemes and living comfortably, people voted against us due to some temporary sentiments. Is that not ingratitude," he asked.
Mani said no such welfare initiatives had taken place in Kerala earlier.
"People are receiving pensions and have enough to eat. Even after getting all this, they voted against us. This is what can be called ingratitude," he said.
Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the results were beyond expectations.
"The outcome points towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, indicating that a change of government is imminent. We are going to win the Assembly election," he said.
