Two days after so-called “Drone Boy” Prathap NM showed an image of a drone with him in an interview to a Kannada channel as a prove of drone made by him, the actual manufacturer of that drone has denied any link between Prathap and the development of the drone. BillzEye – Multicoptersysteme, the German company that has developed the drone in the photo shown by Prathap, has issued a statement in its website confirming that Prathap lied in the interview on BTV Live.
The statement issued in German by Bill Gutbier, the owner of the company, says that the drone was displayed at the CeBIT 2018 held at Hannover in Germany, and several visitors had requested to take photographs of their booth and their drones on display. Bill says that Prathap had approached the stall and asked him questions about the drone, like what are the functions it can perform etc, and he was happy to answer the questions. After the conversation, Prathap had asked if he and his friend can take photographs of the booth, and Bill had agreed to it. After taking photographs, Prathap and his friend had left the booth saying goodbye.
All drones displayed at the Hannover expo, especially the BETH-01 drone seen in the photo with Prathap, are the properties of BillzEye – Multicoptersysteme, and Prathap has nothing to do with the design, development, manufacture or distribution of this drone, Bill says.
“He is not an employee, cooperation partner or shareholder of BillzEye – Multicoptersysteme. This drone, which is the focus of his photo, was specially designed, constructed and manufactured by Bill Gutbier. This can be proved by documents, CAD files and photos of the drone that the company has’, the statement adds.
Prathap has claimed that the drone showed by him on his smartphone belongs to him and he built it. This is a false statement. He had taken only a photo of the drone at CEBIT 2018 in Hannover, and if claims otherwise, he is lying, the original developer of the drone says.
He has further said that since Prathap NM has made false statement regarding the drone, Bill Gutbier has asked him to clarify and state the facts clearly. After that the statement adds that Prathap does not comply with this request and he continues to spread fake claim, legal action will be taken against him.
Prathap’s interview
Days after OpIndia exposed the false claims of ‘drone boy’ Pathap NM that he has built 600 drones using e-waste and won numerous awards and medals, he had appeared for an interview with Kannada channel BTV Live. In the show, he showed several certificates that he has claimed to have at various international events for winning drone competitions. But the organisers of those events have already denied the existence of any such competitions and awards, and have clarified that Prathap is lying.
While Prathap refused to show any drone built by him, he had shown a photograph of himself with a drone at CEBIT 2018 on his phone. This photograph was already published by several websites along with stories hailing his ‘achievements’. In the show, he had claimed that he is the developer of the drone.
But it was pointed out that it is a drone made by German company BillzEye – Multicoptersysteme, and photos and videos of the drone on display at the Hannover event was available online, including the Facebook page of the company.
