Surat resident claims he was 'designer' of Chandrayaan's lander, police launch probe
Surat (PTI): Surat police in Gujarat are probing a city resident's claims that he was a scientist working with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and designed the lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission, an official has said.
City police commissioner Ajay Tomar has directed the crime branch to conduct investigation to verify the claims which were prima facie false, Deputy Commissioner of Police (special branch) Hetal Patel said on Friday.
Mitul Trivedi, who has been giving interviews to the local media since the Vikram lander successfully landed on the moon on Thursday, failed to produce any documentary proof to support his claim of being an ISRO scientist, said DCP Patel.
Trivedi, who claims to hold a Ph.D., on Thursday told several media outlets and news channels that he had designed the lander of Chandrayaan-3.
As he was part of the Chandrayaan-2 project, ISRO invited him to work on the latest moon mission too, and he made several changes in the original design of the lander which was the reason it landed successfully, he claimed.
But some local newspapers published reports questioning the veracity of his claims on Friday.
He was asked to visit her office on Friday with documents to prove his claims, she said.
"But he did not produce any document or proof to establish that he is associated with ISRO. Our probe found that he is a B.Com. degree holder. When asked about his claims of being a scientist, he said he was a freelancer who had worked on Chandrayaan-3's design at ISRO's Bengaluru office. He even claims to be working with NASA," said the official.
"As per our preliminary probe, he is not an ISRO scientist. Further probe will be carried out by the crime branch and a First Information Report will be registered against him if he is found to be lying," she added.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
