Two Indian police constables have been accused by fellow mountaineers of using crudely manipulated photographs to support their claim to have reached the top of Mount Everest.

The husband and wife pair from Pune were hailed as the first Indian couple to have conquered the world’s highest peak on 23 May.

But eight other mountaineers have now lodged a complaint saying Dinesh Rathod and his wife Tarakeshwari never made it to the summit and had “morphed” photographs of themselves at the top. The couple have reportedly denied the claims.

The couple’s critics say they arrived at base camp very late in the climbing season to have a chance of reaching the top and pointed to apparent contradictions in the photographs published online by Dinesh.

“These are the biggest giveaways, the pictures are clearly morphed,” Anjali Kulkarni told Mid Day.

He said that in the photographs purporting to show the Rathods at the summit, the distinctive mountaineering clothes the couple were wearing appeared to have changed from earlier in the climb.

“Both seem to have changed their climbing boots, too, in separate pictures. Being able to change one’s clothes mid-climb and not get frostbitten would be a miracle,” Kulkarni said.

read full article at source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/29/mount-everest-summit-india-couple-morphed-photos