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back to Nepal, but after an intervention from the Nepal Embassy and the Nepalese Prime Minister, this decision was rescinded.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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Modi govt not listening to anyone: Rahul flags functional problems of OSCs for women
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday flagged problems related to the Centre's One Stop Centres (OSCs) that are intended to support women affected by violence and claimed that the "Modi government is not listening to anyone".
Gandhi asserted that safety is not merely a scheme; it is a fundamental responsibility of the government.
"Women are knocking on doors for help, yet the government has kept those doors shut. I asked in Parliament: When a woman flees violence and reaches a One Stop Centre (OSC) - why does she not receive help? Why does she find the doors locked instead? Why is there a shortage of staff? Why are complaints from across the country going unheard?" Gandhi said in a post on his WhatsApp channel.
"What was the government's response? That everything is 'satisfactory'. If everything is indeed 'satisfactory', then why are reports of so many problems regarding OSCs continuing to surface?" he said.
If safety is a priority, why is help still failing to reach three out of every five women, Gandhi asked.
"And why is only 60 paise out of every Rs 100 allocated to the Ministry of Women and Child Development being spent on OSCs?" the former Congress chief said.
"Safety is not merely a scheme; it is a fundamental responsibility of the government. Dismissing everything as 'satisfactory' does not ensure safety; it merely demonstrates that the Modi government is not listening to anyone," Gandhi said.
In his question in Lok Sabha on March 27, Gandhi had asked whether numerous OSCs remain locked, non-functional/fail to operate round-the-clock as mandated, if so, the details thereof; and the number of women who have sought assistance and shelter at OSCs and the number of cases of crimes against women registered during the last five years, state-wise and year-wise.
He also asked about the number of operational OSCs and new OSCs opened during the last five years, state-wise and year-wise; and the details of the funds released/utilised for OSCs during the said period, state-wise and year-wise indicating the reasons for underutilisation.
He further asked about the details of the sanctioned versus filled posts in OSCs, including administrators, case workers, counsellors, medical officers and police, state-wise; and whether the Ministry has examined complaints of mismanagement/violation of operational guidelines, if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon.
In her written reply to the question, Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur said OSC is a component of the Sambal vertical under the umbrella Mission Shakti and it provides integrated and immediate support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence and those in distress, both in private and public spaces
"It provides services like medical aid, legal aid and advice, temporary shelter, police assistance and psycho-social counselling to needy women. Since inception, i.e. 1st April, 2015 up to 31st December, 2025, over 13.37 lakh women have been assisted in the country," she said and also shared the state and UT-wise details of OSCs.
The minister said the overall implementation of the OSC scheme lies with the state governments and UT administrations.
"Two third party evaluations of the schemes of the Ministry, including the Mission Shakti Umbrella Scheme and its components relating to One Stop Centres (OSCs) have been conducted in 2020 and again in 2025 through NITI Aayog. The studies have found the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the scheme as satisfactory," Thakur said.
नेता विपक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi ने महिला सुरक्षा से जुड़े वन स्टॉप सेंटर (OSC) पर संसद में सवाल पूछा, लेकिन सरकार का जवाब हर बार की तरह निराशाजनक था।
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 5, 2026
श्री राहुल गांधी ने संसद में पूछा: जब कोई महिला हिंसा से भागकर वन स्टॉप सेंटर (OSC) पहुंचती है, तो उसे मदद क्यों नहीं मिलती, ताला… pic.twitter.com/MRAy2oEuG9
