Fact Check: Clip of MIT Manipal student trying to sneak girlfriend into hostel by suitcase

What is the claim?

On February 2, a CCTV recording began doing the rounds on social media alleging that an engineering student from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) in Manipal tried to sneak his girlfriend inside a huge travel bag into the MIT hostels. The viral incident was purportedly caught on CCTV, where the student was seen trying to enter the campus premises with a suitcase. The security guard stopped him near the compound after seeing the huge bag. When the student was asked to open the bag, he tried to escape from the spot. Ultimately, the security guard opened the bag, and a girl came out of the bag.

Several netizens on Twitter claimed that the incident was recent and reported from Manipal Institute of Technology. The viral video led to a barrage of memes on social media trending as 'Manipal Scandal' and 'Manipal viral video'. 

Is the Manipal Institute of Technology suitcase scandal true?

Further investigation into the viral Manipal video revealed that the images of the CCTV date back to at least 2019, and are not from the MIT campus. In fact, the incident seems to have taken place at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), a private university in Dehradun. Republic was also able to track an old viral post that had spoken about the incident, with the same CCTV images nearly 3 years ago in 2019. It is clear that the incident on camera is definitely not recent, and probably not even from Manipal University. 

The report by Intrigin MAG claims that a 'gutsy' girl tried to sneak through the UPES college gates inside a suitcase. She was allegedly a student of the same University. However, when things seemed fishy and suspicious about the suitcase and the guys carrying it, the guard stopped them for a check which resulted in the reveal of this unsuccessful attempt. As per reports, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has said that such an incident has taken place, but that the video going viral is not of that incident.