Two Indian mountaineers who claimed to have summited Mount Everest in 2016 have been banned after it was found that their claims were fake.
Mountaineers Narender Singh Yadav from Haryana and Seema Rani Goswami from Haryana had in 2016 claimed to have summited Mount Everest in Nepal. Four years since the incident, Nepal deemed the news as fake. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation recently cancelled the summit certificates issued to the mountaineers.
Who is Narender Singh Yadav
Narender Singh Yadav is a mountaineer from Haryana who claimed to have summited Mount evest in May 2016 and shared photos of the summit on social media which eventually went viral. In 2019, Yadav was shortlisted for the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award, one of the highest awards given for adventure sports in India.
Did Yadav win the award?
Soon after the announcement, many Indian mountaineers and those who were also expeditioning in the Everest at the time said that the photos and evidence produced by Yadav were fake. While no such accounts had come forth initially, the announcement of the award brought forth a flurry of accusations against not just Yadav but also Goswami, who hails from Assam. Yadav's name was withheld from the awards by the sports ministry in India after accusations of the summit being fake surfaced.
What did the investigation find?
The falsehood came to light following an investigation into the claim after several Indian mountaineers and a Nepali sherpa accused the duo of lying. The sherpa, who claims to be an eyewitness, told the media last year that Yadav had been unsuccessful in summiting Everest during the 2016 expedition while Goswami had to be airlifted out after she fell sick. Following the accusations, the Nepak government started a probe into the matter and foundYadav and Goswami guilty of faking their summit.
How have Yadav and Goswami been punished?
Both Yadav and Goswami have been given retrospective bans for six years starting 2016. The ban will end in 2022. Their team leader Naba Kumar Phukon who headed the expedition has also been banned.
The joint secretary in the MoCTCA Pradip Kumar Koirala who also chaired the investigative commiittee told The Indian Express, "In our investigation, we found that they had submitted fake documents (including photographs). Based on the documents and the conversation with the officials concerned, including sherpas, we reached this conclusion.
The Ministry of Ministry of Tourism, Nepal, has decided to cancel Everest summit certificates of Indian Climbers Narender Singh Yadav @narender8848, and Sima Rani Goswami, and banned them doing mountaineering activities in Nepal for six-years. Official press release here. pic.twitter.com/RnnSKTii93— Everest Today (@EverestToday) February 10, 2021
Nepal’s tourism ministry spokesman Tara Nath Adhikari also told AFP news agency on Wednesday their investigations and enquiries with other climbers revealed that the two “never reached the summit”.
Along with Yadav and Goswami, Seven Summits Trek that orgnaised the expedition has also been fined 50,000 Nepali Rupees and a local named Dawa Sherpa who was Yadav's tour guide was fined 10,000 Nepali rupees. The fines were incurred for keeping quiet about Yadav's deception in 2016.