BJP UP Member Misidentified as Father of Accused in KIIT Student Suicide Case

We found no connections between the KIIT accused and the man in the picture.

Fact-Check: The claim is false and Srivastava is not related to the accused. 

(Source: The Quint) 

(Trigger Warning: Mention of suicide. If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness. You can reach out to local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs here.)

A collection of images featuring a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, Manoj Srivastava, is circulating online, with users identifying him as the father of Advik Srivastava (resident of Lucknow), who was arrested related to the death of a female student, who died by suicide at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha.

• The photos show Manoj Srivastava standing alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Smriti Irani and other party leaders.

• Those sharing wrote, "He is Manoj Srivastava, an influential BJP politician from Lucknow and the father of Advik Srivastava." (sic.)

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false. We found that Manoj Srivastava was not related or linked with the accused in the KIIT case.

• Local police in Bhubaneswar refuted the claim about Manoj Srivastava's links with the accused.

What we found: We ran a Google reverse image search on the image and were led to the original post from 2020. It was posted by a user named Manoj Srivastava on Facebook.

• The caption noted, "Respected Union Minister Smt. Smriti Irani ji will address the Uttar Pradesh Jan Samvad Rally through video conferencing today on 27 June, 2020 at 5 pm. Watch live - Manoj Shrivastava, Former District Vice President Ayodhya" (sic.)

• According to the user's Facebook profile, Manoj Srivastava was the former district vice-president and vice-president of the Municipal Council in Faizabad.

• His current work profile noted that he was a member at the Board of Railway Consumer Advisory Committee, Northern Railway, Lucknow.

• Incidentally, the user's cover image was one of the viral images being circulated on social media.

Here is a screengrab of the user's profile. 

(Source: Facebook) 

• We also found the viral image featuring CM Yogi Adityanath and him which was originally uploaded by Manoj Srivastava on 5 June 2020.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook) 

• Upon going through the user's profile, we found a post from 20 February. The post wished his son, "Akshat Srivastava," for his birthday.

• The post read, "Many happy wishes and blessings to dear son Akshat Srivastava on his birthday."

Here is a screenshot of the post.

(Source: Facebook) 

• Akshat's Facebook profile noted that he was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at an auto motors showroom in Ayodhya.

Local police deny viral claim: Speaking to The Quint, Mahendra Sahu, station in-charge of Infocity Police Station (where the case was registered), refuted the claim that the Manoj Srivastava, belonging to the BJP was the father of the accused.

• We have reached out to the BJP member for his clarifications and the story will be updated once the response comes.

• Team WebQoof debunked a similar claim when another image of a different man named Manoj K Srivastava was shared.

Conclusion: A false claim has gone viral with users misidentifying a BJP member as the father of the accused in the KIIT case.

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