Believe It Or Not: Indian Mountaineers Faked Mt Everest Conquest!

Picture courtesy www.lonelyplanet.com

Kathmandu: Two Indian climbers and their sherpa have been banned from undertaking any mountaineering activity in Nepal for six years. The reason for their punishment will take some digesting – they had faked their Mount Everest conquest in 2016!

The Nepalese government has also revoked the two climbers’ Mt Everest summit certificates.

Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami, along with team leader Naba Kumar Phukon, had claimed to have scaled the world’s tallest mountain in the spring of 2016.

But when Yadav was nominated for the coveted Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award in 2020, some Indian mountaineers had protested following which a probe was ordered.

It emerged that the duo had not reached the summit.

“They couldn’t produce any evidence of their ascent to the peak… they even failed to submit reliable photos of them at the summit,” Nepalese Tourism Ministry spokesman Tara Nath Adhikari was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

Seven Summit Treks, organizers of the infamous 2016 expedition, has been fined Rs 50,000, and sherpa Phukon Rs 10,000.