Judging from the official Indian space agency press release:

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Nov14_2008.htm

MIP came down near Shackelton crater in the south pole, where scientists
think subsurface ice from comets is still preserved.

I think they were hoping it might survive, even though the odds were MIP
would not keep transmitting once it hit the lunar surface. Note the emphasis
on its placing the Indian flag on the Moon.

This reminds me of some of the early Soviet efforts. Even when a space
lander crashed when it was supposed to survive touchdown, the emphasis
would be on how the probe delivered the Soviet Coat of Arms to a new
world.

Mars 2 in 1971 was a prime example here, and in 1967 the Soviets
tried awfully hard to convince everyone that its Venera 4 had actually
made it to the surface of Venus, going so far as to say it had touched
down on a very high mountain. It took Mariner 5's flyby the next day
to show that the Venera was likely crushed about two dozen miles
above the planet (the Soviets thought the surface air pressure was
about 20 Earth atmospheres, not 90 as was later determined).

On the other hand, the Pioneer Venus 13 probes that were America's
first probe landings on the second planet 30 years ago next month
were not designed to survive impact after examining the planet's
thick atmosphere, but thanks to that very same atmosphere, two of
them did. One survived for 2 seconds, while the Day Probe as it was
called transmitted for 67 minutes, sending back increasingly hot
interior temperature readings.

I am NOT saying the ISRO was trying to pull a deception here, only
that they wanted to emphasize their first spacecraft to land on the
Moon over the fact that it crashed. Quite understandable, and the
MIP did transmit all the way down and their orbiter is working fine.
I just hope we see more images.