Months after a Pune-based couple made a fake claim of having scaled the Mount Everest, the Nepal government has imposed a 10-year ban on them.
The ban essentially means that Tarkeshwari and Dinesh Rathod, who are serving as constables in the Pune police, are barred from entering Nepal for ten years.
On June 5, the duo had claimed that they had become the first couple to successfully scale the Everest on May 23. Days after their press briefing, a group of mountaineers approached the Pune police alleging that the couple has faked their expedition by morphing photographs.
According to the mountaineers, there were discrepancies in their version given about the summit, which made them suspicious about
their claim. A mountaineer from Kolkata, who had scaled the Everest on May 21 with two other mountaineers and sherpas, said that their pictures were misused by the couple.
Meanwhile, the couple has gone into hiding since the police launched an inquiry into the matter. Officials of the Pune police said that they may not be arrested, but could face demotion and have their annual increments stopped. A senior official said that the couple has not reported for duty and are untraceable.