The Department of Tourism has issued a 10-year ban against two climbers who claim to be the first Indian couple to conquer Everest.

The photographs presented by the couple said to be clicked at the world’s highest peak proved to be fake during an investigation carried out by the department. The fake Indian couple has been barred for any expedition for 10 years in Nepal.

Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, who are police officials from the western Indian city of Pune had held a press conference earlier on June, in which they claimed to be have reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 23. However, several mountaineers complained against the couple and said that they faked their achievement by circulating digitally altered photos of the climb.

The fraud incident came into light after a climber based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, Satyarup Sidhantha, told reporters that the photographs presented by the Rathods as "proof" of their climb actually belonged to him.

Nepal Tourism Board Director General Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal said that the Rathod couple has been slapped with a 10-year ban to pursue expedition in Nepal and the certificate presented to the couple for their Everest summit has also been scrapped.

Meanwhile, in an interview earlier with BBC Mohan Lamsal, the chief of Kathmandu-based Makalu Adventure, which organised the ascent, told the BBC he had "no doubt" the couple had scaled the world's highest peak.

"They were taken to the summit by sherpas who worked for my company for several years and they reached the summit on 23 May," Lamsal told the BBC.

Lamsal, claiming that ‘there was some politics going on’ had said the Nepali authorities had issued climbing certificates to the couple after "investigating the matter and interviewing the couple" following complaints by some climbers in India.