A father and son team of alleged conmen, who claimed to work for Nasa, have been paraded in front of cameras by Indian police, wearing “space suits” apparently made from tinfoil.

The pair stand accused of defrauding a businessman by pretending to work for the US space agency and offering to sell equipment with otherworldly qualities.

The duo persuaded the victim of the scam to invest in a copper plate for 14.3m Rs (£157,600), which they claimed had "special properties“, police said.

The suspects, Virender Mohan Brar and his son Nitin Mohan Brar, had allegedly claimed they wanted to test the device, a “rare piece of copper plate struck by a thunderbolt" which had given it the power to pull rice towards it.

They had allegedly told the Delhi-based businessman, named only as Narender, that if tests were successful, they would then sell the device to Nasa for $5bn.