Belenso T Yimchunger, who first gained attention for his Pungro Power Soil innovation, may have become the latest victim of online scamming.
On March 27, 2024, the Mokokchung Times published an article titled “ISRO acknowledges Naga scientist for contribution to RLV technology,” which featured a letter purportedly from ISRO acknowledging “Naga scientist Dr Belenso T Yimchunger, along with Ram Das from JE Power, GoI, and Kumar, an Electrical and Electronic student at IIT Delhi,” for their contributions to Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology. Initially, Dr Belenso expressed humility and gratitude regarding the letter to MT.
The issue gained wider attention when @thebetterindia praised Dr Belenso T Yimchunger from Nagaland for his contributions to ISRO’s RLV technology on June 24.
However, after about three months, the authenticity of these claims are being challenged.
Sidharth. M.P, a journalist and Principal Correspondent at WION News (as mentioned on his X account), called the letter and information posted “fake” and “doctored.”
When asked about these allegations, Yimchunger provided a clarification to MT.
“Our team, composed of members working in various technology companies, collaborated to develop and submit this project to ISRO. ISRO has reviewed our submission and derived valuable insights from it. However, there is some confusion because it is not widely known that we also contributed to the project,” Yimchunger explained without divulging further details citing security reasons.
On 27 June, East Mojo also reported the letter as fake, which Belenso admits was when he came to realize that it was fake. Until then, Belenso had the notion that some people were trying to tarnish his name and had full trust in the purported ISRO letter he had received.
“I came to realize that it was fake and I was being framed only after the recent encounter with the WION journalist,” he said.
“I’ve created a Pungro Power Soil and it was published in Medias which made rounds for a while. Weeks later I received an email from ISRO stating that they have seen my project and asked whether I can help them in possible contributions towards the project PLV LEX 02. Therefore, it got me excited to help them out and sent sample videos of my project design through that same mail,” said Belenso.
“A month later I have received that particular gratitude letter (now declared fake) which is doing rounds these days,” he continued. “Even the mails have been taken down and I cannot retrieve it back,” he added.
“I feel so devastated right now. I can’t make sense of it,” he said, but he asserted, “Whatever project that I’ve created from my end is all true.”
Mokokchung Times need to do better at journalism. First do a background check on the so called innovator, nothing about his credentials or technical background adds up, a simple background check is all that is needed to know he is lying. Your article simply gives the impression that you are siding by a fraudster who himself furnished the fake letter to gain popularity and benifit from it. Come on, Do better!
Great Job done with the detailed clarification, thank you for upholding the standards of responsible journalism. Fraudsters like Mr Belenso not only harms their individual reputation but also erodes public trust in science and takes away credibility and discounts the work done by the hard working researchers who puts in years of efforts with very little to no appreciation.