Prathap NM who is famously called Drone Pratap has been in the news for a while for faking his invention and innovation of building 600 drones.
Pratap had claimed that he built over 600 drones through e-waste and said that he visited 87 countries and had job offers from as many countries. He even claimed that he has given lectures in various universities. In an exposing article by OpIndia, it fact-checked all the claims of Pratap and debunked all his claims.
On Thursday, Pratap was invited into BTv news studio to issue clarifications. Instead of clarifying things, Pratap exposed himself further. Here are the 10 things to know about the interview.
The spelling of ‘Vehicle’
In one of the certificates presented by Pratap claiming that he got it from Japan’s Drone expo, people had pointed out that the spelling of Vehicle was misspelled as ‘vehical’. Responding to that, Pratap said that it was a mistake on his part that he submitted the spelling wrong.
Drone Prathap's 600 drones are in single pic?#DronePrathap #droneboy pic.twitter.com/Xs0MTI9I3S
— Sudarshan Gowda (@Sudarsh99675104) July 11, 2020
CEO Signature In The Certificate
In another certificate of an exhibition called GeBIT, people have claimed that the signature of the CEO is wrong because the said person was not the CEO of GeBIT during that period. Pratap evaded the question and didn’t answer it.
I ordered 3 medals for my own Innovation ?? ?#DronePrathap #Droneprathap pic.twitter.com/SWwRJA7uqY
— Nithish Billava (@nithish_billava) July 16, 2020
2 Backlog Subjects
There have been several reports that Pratap, who claims to have been hailed as the young scientist by many countries, have been failed in 2 subjects in the final year of Bachelor of Science course. Pratap, taken aback by the question, acknowledged that he has 2 backlog subjects but it was because he had to visit Japan to attend a competition.
Guys!! I have a BIG announcement. Just done testing my new RC car design. It has clocked in a speed of 3×10^8 m/s ???. Kindly suggest which all competitions I should participate in ? #DronePrathap # KaagePrathap pic.twitter.com/lZW5LPTXql
— Vaishnavi D R (@vaishnavi_dr) July 16, 2020
Lecture at Harvard And Oxford University
In one of his speeches, he claimed that he had lectured students at Harvard University, Oxford University, Stanford University, etc but said that it gives him immense pleasure teaching in a government school in India. Responding to the authenticity of that, Pratap said that he was not physically present everywhere but lectured students of those universities online. He was in the backfoot while answering the questions.
Reports suggest that Rahul Vinci learned to lie about Rafale from #DronePrathap And he'll be replacing Divya Spandana as Congress IT cell head ?? pic.twitter.com/0xIriJqF5w
— Hemanth Katte (@im_khemanth) July 11, 2020
The Job In France
Pratap had also claimed that he had a job in France and more than 80 people were working under him none of whom were below the age of 40. When asked about whether it was true, Pratap said that he cannot disclose anything.
If mails are considered as awards according to Drone Prathap !! I have received appreciations from clients all over the world in my short career till now ???#DronePrathap #kaageHarsidSakayya
— Akshay Bhat (@iamakshaybhat) July 16, 2020
Patent
When asked why he hasn’t patented his product, he said he would like to patent it in the name of the country and not in his name.
Lack of Money in Tokyo
One of Pratap’s friend came online and confirmed that Pratap was indeed in Tokyo and was struggling with money to reach the airport.
Hey Drone Prathap, when and where did you meet Pung Lee…. now everyone is going to meet Heng D Lee….#DronePrathap
— Yateesh Vijaya Kumar (@yateeshchinnu) July 11, 2020
Darshan Cameo
One of Pratap’s classmates Darshan came online from Japan and asked technical questions to him. Pratap was visibly evading the questions. Darshan later said that googling in Wikipedia is not research.
Coding Language
Darshan asked him a simple question about the language in which he wrote the code. Pratap stammered, said the python, and then said Arduino but refused to give satisfactory answers.
Lift & Drag
Darshan persistently asked technical questions such as lift and drag which according to him is the basic knowledge for anyone building drones. Pratap refused to answer it and said he would mail him later.
As a mechanical engineer, we write definitions of Lift and Drag for 1 mark in VTU exams.#DronePrathap couldn't define those being a 'Young Scientist'.
Darshan, devru guru neenu. ????@KirikKeerthi
— Yaaravanu? (@yaaravanu) July 16, 2020
Overall, the interview which was supposed to clarify the misconceptions about Pratap increased the misconceptions about him.
