Nepal has banned two Indian climbers and their team leader for mountaineering in the country for six years, after an investigation found that they had dropped their climb on Everest in 2016.
The climb of Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami was certified by the tourism department at the time.
The action against them took place when they could not provide any evidence after Yadav was nominated for an award.
Mr. Yadav and me. Goswami has not yet commented on Wednesday’s announcement.
Reaching the top of the 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) mountain is considered a dazzling achievement for mountaineers around the world.
When Mr. Yadav was nominated for the prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award last year, the demands of the couples have been questioned by other climbers.
A Nepalese tourism ministry official told AFP that during their investigations with other climbers, they found that the two ‘never reached the summit’ and that they did not provide reliable photos of the summit and other evidence. .
‘In our investigation we found that they had submitted false documents [including photographs]. Based on the documents and the conversation with the officials involved, including sherpas [expert Nepalese mountaineers]”We have come to this conclusion,” a Nepalese Ministry of Tourism and Culture official told The Indian Express newspaper.
Mr. Yadav, me. Goswami and team leader Naba Kumar Phukon have been placed under a six-year ban. It will start retroactively in 2016. Their certification of the Everest summit has also been revoked, AFP reported.
The Ministry of Tourism also fined the company that arranged the climb and the sherpas who supported them.
Indians first conquered Everest in the 1960s and in 1984 Bachendri Pal became the first Indian woman to climb the mountain. Indians also set records for ‘the first twin’, ‘the first female amputee’, ‘the youngest girl ever’ and ‘the oldest woman ever’ to climb the peak.
Many of those who succeeded in downsizing the mountain thereafter had profitable careers as motivational speakers and writers.
But this is not the first time Indian climbers have been called out to claim they have reached the summit.
In 2017, police in the West Indian state of Maharashtra fired two officers after an investigation found that they claimed to be the first Indian couple to climb Everest.
Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod said they reached the summit successfully in 2016, but Maharashtra police said the couple took ‘photos’ to show a successful rise.
The Department of Tourism in Nepal initially certified their ascent, but revoked the decision after an investigation.