Maharashtra police couple suspended for bogus Mount Everest ascent claim

Police constable Dinesh and his wife Tarkeshwari Rathod, who had allegedly faked about scaling Mount Everest in May, have been suspended after their claim was found to be "misleading and bogus."

"We have yet not received any official communication from the Nepal government about the expedition claim of the couple. However, based on the inquiry conducted by a fact finding committee, set up by police, it was found that the claims were misleading and bogus, and it was confirmed that they had faked about the ascent," deputy commissioner of police (headquarters) Arvind Chavriya told PTI on Thursday.

According to police, another reason for their suspension was that the couple did not report to office ever since a controversy erupted and remained untraceable.

Besides the misleading information shared by the couple about their expedition at a press conference in Nepal on June 5, they remained absent from duty ever since the controversy erupted, the official said.

Dinesh and Tarkeshwari, posted at Shivajinagar police headquarters in the city, had claimed on June 5 that they have become the first Indian couple to scale the Everest on May 23.

A group of local mountaineers later claimed that couple was never at the summit and alleged that the they had faked their expedition by morphing photographs, which showed them at the Everest peak.

"A suspension order has been issued on November 15 and now a department inquiry will be initiated against the couple, which will decide what sort of punishment should be given to them," he added.

In August, Nepal government reportedly banned the entry of Dinesh and Tarkeshwari in Nepal for 10 years. Following complaint against the Rathods, an inquiry was ordered into the allegations and the city police had also written to the Nepal government to investigate into the claim.

Surendra Shelke, one of the complainants and secretary of a city-based mountaineering association, had alleged that the couple had morphed the pictures and there were several discrepancies in the version given about the summit, which can prove the falseness of the claim.