Kolkata: The
Pune police
couple accused of faking their
Everest feat allegedly morphed summit pictures of Kolkata-based mountaineer
Satyarup Sidhanta
, says a complaint filed with Pune cops.
The controversial photographs were uploaded by Pune constables
Dinesh and
Tarakeswari Rathod
on social networking sites.
Anjali Kulkarni
, one of the eight complainants, says she was going through the pictures of other summiteers when she spotted an uncanny resemblance between those posted by the couple and those of Sidhanta's.
Sidhanta had made it to the summit on May 21. Makalu Adventure, the climb organiser for the duo, also published a photograph of the couple that seems to be a replica of one of Sidhanta's snaps. "I do not contest whether the Pune couple made it to the summit. What hurts me is the attempt to morph my summit pictures and claim it to be their own. That is unacceptable," Sidhanta told TOI.
He is not going to court. "The government must come forward. My son does not have money to take legal action," his mother
Gayatri
said.
Dinesh and Tarakeswari Rathod held a press meet on June 5 to claim that they summited
Mount Everest on May 23 and that they are the first Indian couple to do so.
But eight Pune-based mountaineers lodged a complaint with police commissioner
Rashmi Shukla
on June 17, saying the Rathods had made a false claim and morphed photographs. "On June 3, Dinesh made the first claim of making it to the Everest summit. There was no mention of Tarakeswari summiting too. Two days later, they claimed both of them made it," said Kulkarni. The photos were the giveaway, she says. In his 'summit photo', Dinesh is seen wearing a red-and-black jacket. But in other Everest photos the couple is seen wearing orange down jackets and yellow-and-black shoes.
"No climber will go for a dress change at the top of the mountain. Moreover, it shows they changed their shoes too during the climb. This is absurd as they would immediately get frostbite," Kulkarni said. Pune Police commissioner Rashmi Shukla said they have ordered an inquiry into the complaint. The constable duo has not yet joined duty.
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