Mangaluru:  A photo of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a woman army officer went viral as a page shared this image with the caption, 'the defence minister with her daughter '.

Team Modi supporter Jalalur on December 27, 2018 shared this image first.

The image was shared more than 350 times in various pages and on Twitter with the same caption.

After a fact check by an online media group on the same revealed that the woman in the picture is not minister Nirmala Sitharaman's daughter.  It is clear that the minister's daughter does not serve in the Indian Army.

Boom fact check team spoke to army spokesperson Col Rohan Anand, who clarified that the girl in photo next to defence minister was not her daughter, but the picture was taken during the minister's visit. He also said that the officer was appointed recently in the army.

Nirmala Sitharaman's daughter's name is Parakala Vangmayi. She has a PhD from London School of Economics, state reports.

The girl in the photo has been identified as Nikita Veeraiah. A Facebook post of Nikita serves as verification that she is part of the Indian Army.

More details about Nikita are not available currently, except that she hails from Mangaluru and studied at KS Hegde Medical Academy before graduating in 2010.