Police investigating claims Rathods are lying about their achievement.
AB Wire
Did Pune police personnel and mountaineers Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, both 30, fake their climb of Mt. Everest last month?
Several Indian mountaineers seem to think so, and have accused the couple of lying by posting photoshopped pictures of themselves atop Mt. Everest, with some glaring loopholes giving them away.
The Rathods had been widely lauded for their achievement on May 23, when images showed them proudly unfurl the banner of the Pune police force, where they both work as constables, atop the world’s highest peak, reported The Telegraph.
At an emotional press conference shortly after their trip, the couple paid tribute to three less fortunate Indian climbers who had perished on the same slopes that week, and told reporters that they had for years put off having a child until achieving their dream of successfully defeating Everest.
But according to a group of rival alpinists also from India’s Maharashtra state, holes quickly appeared in the Rathods’ story.
They claim that the pair superimposed images of themselves taken lower down Everest or even inside a studio onto photographs of the summit, and posted these on Facebook.
Satyarup Siddhanta, another mountaineer, last night pointed out on Facebook that an image ostensibly showing Mrs. Rathod holding an Indian flag atop the summit published on the website of their Nepalese tour company Makalu Adventures appeared to be a crudely photoshopped version of one of his own images.
The couple appear to be wearing different colored climbing gear in different photographs of their alleged ascent, the group added, asking in a written dossier sent out to journalists: “Is it possible to change your costume or shoes and still not have frostbite? What does it indicate?”
Although they do not dispute the couple were at Base Camp, the group has also alleged – citing other climbers who were present – that the pair did not arrive there until early May, too late to acclimatize for a summit attempt, according to the Telegraph.
“It is 100 per cent false, total fiction,” said veteran climber Surendra Shelke, the group’s leader, last night.
The Pune police department where the two work has now launched an internal investigation into the allegations.
However Makalu Adventures insisted that there was no doubt of the couple’s achievement, and put the claims down to rivalries between the groups.
Shelke, who hails from Pune, has previously accused them of fabricating achievements. He alleges they did the same on an expedition he organized to climb Australia’s 10 tallest peaks in 2014.
Mohan Lamsal, president of Makalu, said: “After these complaints, I have asked our Sherpas more than 100 times. They always said we climbed to the top together, there is no doubt sir. We have to trust our Sherpas. There has been no hanky-panky here.”
The climb has been verified by the Nepalese government, who carried out a detailed inspection of the couple’s accounts and images taken on the expedition, he said. Lamsal also insisted it is commonplace for climbers to switch into heavier climbing gear when they reach Camp 2 or 3, and the start of much harsher conditions.
He added that media reports erroneously referring to the Rathods as India’s first couple to summit Everest may have provoked anger among rival groups, as another – Pandeep and Chetana Sahoo – had managed the climb just days earlier. He insisted that the false claim did not come from the Rathods.
But some other mountaineers disagree on the achievement of the Rathods.
“These are the biggest giveaways, the pictures are clearly morphed,” Anjali Kulkarni told Mid Day.
Other pieces of evidence include discrepancies over their claim to have reached the top at 6.25am, according to the Guardian.
A photograph of Tarkeshwari Rathod brandishing the Indian flag on the summit – which was used by the Nepal Tourism Board to verify their claim – has also been questioned, with skeptics saying that the shadows suggest it was taken closer tonoon.
Kulkarni told Mid Day that the couple were accused in 2014 of making a false claim in the Indian media to have completed the Aussie10 Challenge, which involves climbing Australia’s 10 peaks.
“Such people are setting a bad example both in India as well as in Nepal,” Kulkarni said. “They should be stripped of their title.”