An image is being shared with a claim that it shows the co-accused in the Parliament security breach named Manoranjan, who allegedly works with the Students' Federation of India (SFI).
What are users saying?: Those sharing the image have said, "This is believed to be Manoranjan, one of the intruders of the Parliament, yesterday. Here he is seen to be part of SFI."
Some users pointed out that the man in the image also spoke at an event conducted by SFI in Mysuru, Karnataka.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
Are these claims true?: The person in the viral photo is Vijay Kumar, SFI's district president from Mysuru, and not Manoranjan as claimed.
The Quint reached out to Vijay and SFI, who confirmed that social media users are misidentifying the former as the co-accused in the Parliament security breach case.
What led us to the truth?: We checked the Facebook handle of SFI Karnataka and came across a statement uploaded by the organisation.
The post was uploaded on 14 December and it mentioned that several people have dragged the name of SFI Mysore (Mysuru) district president Vijay Kumar in the case.
They also demanded appropriate action against those who were spreading fake news.
Where is the picture from?: Team WebQoof found a post on a page called SFI Mysore, which identified the person named in the picture as 'TS Vijay Kumar'. The post also refuted the claim about SFI having any links with the attackers.
On going through the handle further, we found the same image uploaded on 8 September 2022. According to its caption, it was taken during the second conference of SFI in Mysore.
What did Vijay say?: Speaking to The Quint, Vijay confirmed that it was him who can be seen in the image. He said that there are no links between SFI and the co-accused named Manoranjan.
Vijay added that people are sharing his photo on different social media platforms and misidentifying him as Manoranjan.
He further said that a complaint has been filed against those who are sharing his image with the false claim.
Vijay (L) said that he has filed a complaint against those spreading his photo.
(Source: Accessed by The Quint)
Comparing images of both people: On our request, Vijay shared some of his pictures with us. The comparison makes it clear that it shows images of two different people, and not of the same person.
A comparison between the images clearly highlights that both of them show different people.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
We reached out to the organisation: The Karnataka state secretary of SFI Bheemanagowda Sunkeshwarahal, too, shared a post dismissing the viral claim.
He mentioned in the post that there is a false propaganda claiming that Vijay entered the Parliament.
The Quint spoke to Sunkeshwarahal, who completely dismissed the viral claim. He said, "The person in the photo is Vijay, he is the president of SFI from Mysore district. He is also an advocate. The BJP IT cell is trying to spread fake news. We have also registered a complaint against those spreading fake news."
About the accused Manoranjan: He was second person who jumped into the Parliament. Hailing from Karnataka's Mysuru, his father, Devraj Gowda, described Manoranjan as a hardworking engineer who graduated in 2014. Gowda also said that the accused was a former fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Conclusion: The image is being shared with users falsely identifying the SFI leader as the co-accused, Manoranjan, in the Parliament security breach case.
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