Surat man arrested for claiming to be ISRO scientist who designed Chandrayaan-3's lander

The accused runs tuition classes for a living and holds a degree in Commerce.

Surat police on Tuesday arrested a 40-year-old man for falsely claiming to be a scientist working with Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and that he designed the lander module of the Chandrayan-3 of the moon mission.

Local police said that an FIR was registered against Mehul Trivedi for falsely claiming to be the scientist associated with ISRO. They said that Trivedi fabricated an appointment letter claiming it to be from ISRO wherein he assrted to have been appointed as an "Assistant Chairman, Ancient Science Application Department, ISRO, dated February 26, 2020."

Trivedi, who runs tuition classes for a living and holds a degree in Commerce, also gave interview to several media channels claiming that he designed the lander module since 'Vikram' lander successfully made soft-landing on the lunar surface last week.

Following his publicity, Dharmendra Gami, an activist associated with Bhartiya Gauraksha Manch, submitted an application to city police commissioner, Ajay Tomar, suspecting his claims. The commissioner ordered an inquiry to verify Trivedi's claim.

"We wrote to ISRO asking for details on Mehul Trivedi. Their reply came in negative, following which we registered an FIR and arrested him on Tuesday," police sub-inspector R S Patel told DH. Patel added that Trivedi did this to "gain publicity to make his tuition classes popular."

In a press note, Surat Crime Branch has said that Trivedi also fabricated another appointment letter claiming himself to be part of a project, "Mercury Force in Space" of "Space Research Member."

The note said that despite not having been associated with ambitious project of ISRO ever, he publicised an unnecessary false message which brought disrepute to the space agency.

He has been booked under sections, 417, 464, 468, and 471 of Indian Penal Code.