Image copyright AP Image caption Indian climber Satyarup Sidhantha says a photo of him on Everest (left) was doctored by Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod to make it appear that they too had appeared at the summit 
 
 Nepal has imposed a 10-year mountaineering ban on two climbers who claimed to be the first Indian couple to have climbed Everest, officials say. 
 
 A government investigation concluded on Monday that photographs purporting to show the pair at the top of the world's highest mountain were faked. 
 
 Officials say the ban is intended to deter other climbers from making spurious and dishonest claims. 
 
 The pair's claims to have reached the peak in May were queried by climbers. 
 
 They argued that photos showing Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod at the summit were obviously doctored. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Satyarup Sidhantha holds the genuine photo in his right hand and the "doctored" photo in his left hand 
 
 Image caption The company that assisted the couple insisted in July the pair's Everest conquest claims were true 
 
 Nepal's tourism department initially certified their ascent but has now rescinded that decision after conducting an investigation. 
 
 Tourism department chief Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal told the AFP news agency that an analysis of photos submitted by Mr and Mrs Rathod revealed they had superimposed themselves and their banners on photos taken by another Indian climber who conquered Everest. 
 
 "Despite several attempts to get clarifications from them, they did not co-operate with us during the investigation. The two Sherpas that assisted them are also absconding," Mr Dhakal said. 
 
 "The ban should serve as a warning for mountaineers to follow ethics." 
 
 Image copyright Makalu Adventure Image caption It is alleged that these photos which purportedly show Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod also did not belong to them 
 
 Image caption Nepalese authorities initially issued climbing certificates to the couple after "investigating the matter" but later rescinded that decision 
 
 Mr and Mrs Rathod - who work as constables in the western Indian city of Pune - in July denied the claims, as did the guides who climbed with them. 
 
 But a climber based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, Satyarup Sidhantha, later told reporters that the photographs presented by the Rathods as "proof" of their climb actually belonged to him. 
 
 Suspicions were further aroused because of the time lag between the day the Rathods claimed to have reached the summit and their news conference announcing their achievement. 
 
 It was alleged that the couple could not possibly have reached the summit so soon after they were seen to have arrived at the base camp, and that the photos appeared to show them in two different sets of clothes and boots while on the climb. 
 
 Many of those who have succeeded in scaling the 8,848m (29,029ft) mountain have subsequently gone on to have lucrative careers as motivational speakers and authors. 
 
 More than 450 people, including more than 250 foreigners, climbed Everest during the recently-concluded spring season. It followed two consecutive years of poor weather - made worse by the Nepal earthquake of 2015 - which resulted in almost all Everest attempts being abandoned. 
 
 Mountaineering is a major source of income for impoverished Nepal and this year's succession of successful summits is expected to provide the industry with a major fillip. ||||| Pune-based couple Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod. (Express Photo) Pune-based couple Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod. (Express Photo) 
 
 Nepal on Tuesday imposed a 10-year ban on an Indian police couple from climbing any mountain in the Himalayan nation for faking photographs purporting to show them at the summit of Mount Everest. 
 
 Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, both said to be in their 30s, had claimed that they summited the peak of the Everest, the world’s highest mountain on May 23. 
 
 But fellow climbers raised doubt on the claim of the couple, both police constables from Pune, saying their photos at the summit were manipulated. 
 
 Nepal’s Tourism Ministry earlier certified their claim but later carried out an investigation, which proved to be fake. 
 
 “Our investigation has found that the couple faked their summit. We have cancelled the certificate and imposed a 10-year ban against them from climbing any mountain in Nepal,” said Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal, chief of the Tourism Department of Nepal. 
 
 Dhakal said an analysis of the photos submitted by the couple showed they had superimposed themselves and their banners on photos taken by another fellow Indian climber who summitted the 8,848-metre Mt Everest on the few days earlier. 
 
 “We sought clarification from them, but they did not cooperate in our investigation,” said Dhakal. 
 
 “The ban should serve as a warning for other mountaineers to follow ethics,” he said. 
 
 A total of 456 people, including more than 250 foreigners, summited the world’s highest peak during this year’s spring season, after two consecutive years of deadly disasters that halted the climbing mounted mountains. 
 
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– A total of 456 people reached the peak of Mount Everest during this past spring climbing season. PTI reports Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod were not among them. The Indian police officers, who claimed to have been the first Indian couple to climb Everest, were banned from climbing any mountain in Nepal for 10 years Tuesday after authorities ruled they made the whole thing up, according to the Guardian. The Rathods claimed to have reached the top of Everest on May 23, producing photos as evidence. Nepalese authorities verified their accomplishment based on those photos, but later rescinded that verification after complaints from other climbers. One of those climbers was Satyarup Siddhanta, an Indian man who actually did reach the summit in May and whose photos from the peak the Rathods apparently superimposed themselves over. The BBC reports other signs of fakery included the Rathods getting from base camp to the summit too quickly and appearing in two different outfits in photos from the summit. “The ban should serve as a warning for other mountaineers to follow ethics,” Nepal's chief of tourism tells PTI. It's unclear why the Rathods claimed to have conquered Everest, as no one is quite sure where they or their two sherpas are. But the BBC points out people who make Everest's summit can get good work writing or speaking about their accomplishment. (A climber abandoned the Everest peak to save a stranger.)