An Indian couple is in a mountain of trouble for faking their climb to the top of Mount Everest, according to reports Tuesday.
Dinesh Rathod and his wife, Tarakeshwari, were banned by Nepalese officials from setting foot on any mountain in the country for 10 years, Agence France-Presse reported.
The climbers, who are both cops, took cheating to new heights by doctoring photos of themselves at the peak, according to the French news service. They claimed to be the first Indian couple to summit the world’s tallest mountain peak on May 23.
As proof, they superimposed images of themselves into the foreground of a photo belonging to a climber who had actually reached the peak, authorities told the news service.
Nepalese officials gave them a certificate to document the epic journey based on the phony photo, authorities said.
But climbers, including Satyarup Siddhanta of West Bengal — whose photo they had altered — complained about the fib to Nepalese tourism officials, who launched an investigation.
On Tuesday, the officials announced the couple had never actually reached the 29,029-foot peak. The climbers will get the boot from the country, they said.
“Our investigation shows that the couple faked their summit. We have imposed a 10-year ban against them from climbing any mountain in Nepal,” Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal, the tourism department chief, told AFP.
The couple disappeared after the investigation was launched and are still missing, the Indian Express reported.
They could not be reached for comment, according to the paper.