Two police constables from Maharashtra may in trouble for claiming that they were the first couple to reach the Everest summit, after reports surfaced that they had morphed themselves into pictures of another expedition.
In the first week of June, the photo of Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod was published in many newspapers along with the same claim. However, NDTV reported that eight fellow mountaineers from Maharashtra filed a complaint stating that the couple, was never at the summit and had, in fact, morphed pictures of themselves at the top.
When the media outlet asked Tarkeshwari Rathod about the latest complaint, she said, "I cannot comment as the case is being investigated by the Pune police and the Nepal government."
Speaking to The Hindu, Pune-based mountaineer Surendra Shelke said:
“Our suspicions were first aroused owing to the time lag between the day the Rathods claimed to have reached the summit [May 23] and their press conference announcing their achievement [June 5]. From the people in the team who accompanied the Rathods, we gathered that the duo had not even reached what is known as the first acclimatisation rotation before the main push to the summit - the Khumbu icefall [at 17,999 ft] - by May 10. So, there is no way they could have completed their climb by May 23 as they claimed."
In a separate claim, another Indian mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta has alleged that the couple morphed photos from his expedition to get certificates from the Nepal government.
Posting the original photos on Facebook, he wrote:
This is so so so amazing!!!!!!!! They took my pics and photoshopped their image of summit... And got certificates too... Where is mountaineering going????? For your reference ... I am uploading the pics that they stole and the report... Have a look. Shame on you officers from Pune! (sic)
Siddhanta also posted a video that he had taken from the peak.