A photo of a political worker and head of a Hindutva outfit in Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Srivastava is viral, misidentifying him as the father of Advik Srivastava (21), the accused arrested over the death of a female student at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Odisha.
The man in the viral photo confirmed to BOOM that the accused Advik is not related to him, adding that his son is aged 16 and still in school.
Tensions erupted after a 20-year-old third-year BTech student was found dead in her hostel room in the KIIT campus on February 16, 2025. The college in its initial response claimed that the student died by suicide, allegedly following harassment from another male student. The incident led to massive outrage from other Nepali students demanding a high-level probe into the incident.
The Odisha police have since arrested third-year student of KIIT, Advik Srivastava.
KIIT officials also released a letter asking Nepali students to vacate the hostel overnight, with many students alleging misbehaviour on part of some of professors. Professor Saranjit Singh, KIIT Vice Chancellor on Tuesday evening issued an apology to the Nepali students and stated that two members of the university have been removed from service, for their "extremely irresponsible" comments.
The incident has also cast a shadow on diplomatic relations with Nepal. Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli announced that two Nepali officials had been dispatched to KIIT Odisha campus to look into the incident.
The outrage over the death also poured onto social media, with many sharing a screenshot of the Facebook account of a Manoj Srivastava, highlighting him wearing a saffron scarf. Text on the photo claims that the man is the father of the accused Advik and further adds that he heads a wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
One of the posts sharing the photo claims, "Wonder why this College is protecting Advik Srivastava?? Answer..." pointing to a screenshot of Srivastava's Facebook account. The screenshot shows that it was posted on Reddit, in a thread that has has since been deleted.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the man in the viral photo is not the father of Advik Srivastava, the accused in the KIIT incident.
We reached out to a local journalist in Odisha, who told us that the accused's full name as mentioned in the police arrest report is Advik Manoj Srivastava but no further information available on his parents.
We found the same Facebook account of Manoj Srivastava, as seen in the viral posts, where the bio identifies him as a member and national head of a Hindutva outfit, Bharatiya Kesari Vahini. According to the profile, Srivastava is from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
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Speaking to BOOM, Srivastava declared that while he is a member of both the BJP and RSS, his son is not the accused Advik Srivastava. He added that his son is aged 16, while the accused is 21-years-old. "That is not my son, my son does not study in Odisha. He is currently in standard 12 in Lucknow and not in Odisha."
We confirmed that Srivastava's son's name and facial features do not match that of the accused in the KIIT incident. BOOM is not including this information in the story as it involves a minor.
Srivastava also sent us a denial that he posted on his YouTube channel dismissing the false claim. The same has also been posted on Facebook account.
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BOOM was unable to independently verify details of the accused Advik's father, but was able to confirm that Manoj Srivastava in the viral photo is not related to the accused.
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