Nepal bans three Indian climbers for faking Everest Summit in 2016

(Karachi) Nepal has banned three Indian mountaineers, revoking their Everest summit certificates, for making false claims about climbing Mount Everest in 2016, France 24 reported on Thursday.

As per details, the banned climbers are Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami, who allegedly made false claims and their team leader Naba Kumar Phukon. Both Yadav and Goswami hail from Haryana and Phukon is from Assam.

Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami said they reached the top of the world's highest mountain in the 2016 spring season, and Nepal's tourism department certified their claim at the time.

Though Yadav and Goswami had announced their successful climb only after reaching India – instead of the traditional practice of announcing it after reaching Nepal's capital Kathmandu, Indian mountaineers who were on Everest expeditions at the same time had not raised objections at that time.

But outrage erupted among Indian mountaineers after Yadav was listed for the prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award last year, triggering an investigation. Following the controversy, the government decided to withhold handing over the award.

Soon investigation started in Nepal about the claims of Yadav and Goswami and the Government of Nepal decided to impose a ban of six years on the trio.

A statement issued by Nepal’s tourism department said that ban will be effective from May 20, 2016, the day when they claimed to have scaled the peak. Therefore, the ban ends in May 2022. They are prohibited from all kinds of mountaineering activities in Nepal till then.