Tarakeshwari Rathod

Satyarup Siddhanta only discovered he was at the centre of an Everest fraud when he spotted news of a couple whose false claim to have scaled the world's highest peak has set off a debate about how mountaineering feats are authenticated.

Six months after they claimed to have be the first married couple in history to scale Mt. Everest, Pune police personnel Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod were suspended from the Maharashtra Police on Thursday for faking the achievement.

In early June, Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod told reporters that they had climbed the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. In doing so, the two 30-year-olds - both police officers from the city of Pune - were thought to have become the first Indian couple to conquer the 29,035-foot-tall Everest together.

Three weeks after being celebrated for being the first couple to reach the Everest summit, Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod have been rudely brought back to earth.

Satyarup Siddhanta only discovered he was at the centre of an Everest fraud when he spotted news of a couple whose false claim to have scaled the world's highest peak has set off a debate about how mountaineering feats are authenticated.

Six months after they claimed to have be the first married couple in history to scale Mt. Everest, Pune police personnel Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod were suspended from the Maharashtra Police on Thursday for faking the achievement.

In early June, Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod told reporters that they had climbed the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. In doing so, the two 30-year-olds - both police officers from the city of Pune - were thought to have become the first Indian couple to conquer the 29,035-foot-tall Everest together.

Three weeks after being celebrated for being the first couple to reach the Everest summit, Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod have been rudely brought back to earth.