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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Man accused of rape-murder of 5-year-old lynched to death in Bengal; Girl’s body found in pond
Alipurduar: A 40-year-old man accused of raping and murdering a five-year-old girl was allegedly tied to a tree and beaten to death by agitated locals in Alipurduar district located in West Bengal on Friday evening. Later, another man surrendered before the police claiming he was also involved in the crime, and was subsequently arrested.
The girl went missing on Friday evening. When her family began searching for the girl, they learned that she had last been seen with Mona Roy, as reported by the Indian Express.
The police said that the girl’s body was found floating in a local pond. They added that the locals caught Roy and took him to his residence where they allegedly noticed blood on the bed. Enraged by this, they tied Roy to a tree and started assaulting him.
Roy was beaten to death before the local police could reach the spot.
When the police arrived at the scene, angry locals prevented them from moving the two bodies. Eventually, a large team of police personnel was sent to the location. After two hours, they were able to remove the bodies from the area.
The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, a man named Bhakta Roy approached the police, claiming that he was involved in the crime and feared for his safety from the angry mob. He was subsequently arrested.
Y. Raghuvanshi, Superintendent of Police, Alipurduar, asserted it is a heinous crime, adding that they have started a detailed investigation in connection to the incident.
