Surat man poses as ISRO scientist involved in Chandrayaan-3 mission; arrested
Surat (PTI): Police have arrested a private tutor who allegedly posed as a scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and gave interviews to the media in Surat claiming he designed the lander module for the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission, officials said.
The accused, Mitul Trivedi, who is in his late 30s, impersonated as an ISRO scientist to draw more students to his tuition classes in Gujarat's Surat city, they said.
He was arrested here on Tuesday, the officials said.
A complaint was lodged against Trivedi after he was seen giving interviews to the local media since the Vikram lander successfully made a soft touch down on the lunar surface on August 23, claiming to have designed the module of Chandrayaan-3, an official said.
Trivedi allegedly posed as the "assistant chairman" of ISRO's "Ancient Science Application department" and even produced a fake appointment letter dated February 26, 2022 to support his credentials, he said.
"A thorough investigation revealed that the man was in no way connected to ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission and had made false claims of being an ISRO employee," the police said in a statement.
He even produced a fake letter about being the "space research member" for ISRO's next project called "mercury force in space", it said.
He spread fake messages regarding the ISRO despite not having contributed to the ambitious project, thereby harming the reputation of the Bengaluru-headquartered institution, the statement read.
The Surat city crime branch lodged an FIR (first information report) against the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged document as genuine), it stated.
Additional Commissioner of Police Sharad Singhal said Trivedi is a private tutor, who posed as an ISRO scientist before the media to attract more students to his tuition classes.
"We contacted the ISRO which said that prima facie the letter shown by the accused was not issued by it. The space agency will send a detailed reply to us soon," he said.
Asked why Trivedi posed as a scientist, Singhal said the accused runs tuition classes and making such a claim would have helped him attract more students.
"He claimed to possess BCom and MCom degrees," the police officer said.
Surat Police arrested Mitul Trivedi who falsely claimed to be a top ISRO Scientist who designed Chandrayaan3. pic.twitter.com/ZXWDaNXaLH
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
