Surat resident claims he was 'designer' of Chandrayaan's lander, police launch probe

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.