Viral IIT graduate from Mumbai who quit US job for parents is fake; the real Vivek Sharma calls out ‘made up stories’ | Today’s news
A viral story about an IIT Mumbai graduate who reportedly gave up a lucrative job in the US and now runs a grocery store in his hometown to be closer to his parents is false.
X’s viral post shared by “Vikas Alwys” featured a picture of the viral grocery store technician and a carefully woven story about him.
The viral post introduced “Vivek Sharma” – “B.Tech Computer Science gold medalist from IIT Bombay” and claimed that he “left $240,000 per year ( ₹2.9 million) work in the US to run a small grocery store under his house and take care of his parents by staying close to them.”
Sharma, X’s account claimed, came from “a simple lower-middle-class family in Kanpur” and his parents used the last of their savings and sold their gold to get him coached and admitted to Kota.
“Their savings were used, jewelery was sold and every rupee was carefully managed so that Vivek could study in Kota and later get into IIT Bombay,” it said.
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However, Vikas wrote that just as Vivek “received a dream job offer from a San Francisco-based startup with a package worth nearly $240,000 per year,” his parent fell ill.
“His father suffered a heart attack and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to sacrifice his career,” he claimed, adding that the technician now runs a grocery store. “They also teach coding to underprivileged kids.”
Vikas ended his perfect social media story with a touching line from the man himself — “Vivek says, ‘My parents are my greatest company’.”
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The story soon made headlines, with the internet calling him the “perfect son” who put “family above fortune.”
Real Vivek Sharma calls “made up stories”
After X’s post went viral, the real Vivek Sharma, who actually attended IIT Bombay, called the story “false and misleading”.
Commenting on the original LinkedIn post by Dr Dilip Gosai, who first shared the false story, the real Vivek said, “This story is completely false and misleading. Some people are misusing my photo to spread false rumors and are posting fabricated stories about me on various social media platforms.”
“Please don’t believe and share such false information. Please check the facts before spreading anything. Thank you,” he urged netizens.
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The post behind the viral story
More than a month ago, Dr. Gosai shared a fake story of Vivek Sharma on LinkedIn. After being prompted to share a fictitious account, he heavily edited the post.
However, the comments section still provides a glimpse of his original post.
Gosai claimed that Vivek joined IIT Bombay in 2012 and had a JEE rank of 147. However, a Google search showed that no one named Vivek Sharma appeared in the 2012 JEE rank.
He then admitted that Vivek Sharma’s persona was created to “inspire” people.
“Vivek Sharma is a fictional character created for an inspirational career narrative emphasizing people-centered leadership and family responsibility,” he acknowledged.
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Fake photo
Gosai’s fake inspirational story went viral before he edited the post and removed all references to “Vivek Sharma” as well as the image he used. Every social media user took it for granted that the picture of the man in the grocery store was a technician who stayed behind with his parents.
However, Hindustan Times (HT) found that the picture shared alongside the viral post is actually that of Sumit Gorai. It was taken from a YouTube video Gorai shared two years ago.
