The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday arrested a 47-year-old fraudster for operating a fake embassy from a rented house in Ghaziabad. Harshvardhan Jain was found in possession of forged documents, foreign currency, and several other materials, which he probably used to run his hawala racket.

UP Police additional director general (ADG), Law & Order, Amitabh Yash said the accused, identified as Harshvardhan Jain, was operating an illegal diplomatic mission of Westarctica from a rented house in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar locality. Westarctica is located in the western portion of Antarctica.

In addition to Westarctica, he claimed to be the consul/ambassador of micronation countries like Seborga, Ladonia, and a fictitious country called Poulvia.

Micronations are self-proclaimed entities that claim to be sovereign states but are not recognised as such by most countries and multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations. India does not recognise these micronations, thereby ruling out the existence of an envoy.

How did the fake embassies operate?

The Uttar Pradesh Police said Jain was allegedly appointed an advisor by Seborga, a village and a self-proclaimed principality in the region of Liguria near the French border, in 2012 and an honorary consul by Westarctica in 2016.

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He allegedly converted his office in an upscale Ghaziabad neighbourhood into a fake consulate by hoisting flags of different micronations he represented and using four luxury vehicles that illegally sported diplomatic registration plates.

During a raid at the “embassy”, the police found ₹44.7 lakh in cash and foreign currency with an exchange value of around ₹30 lakh.

They also found 4 luxury cars, including an Audi and a Mercedes, 20 fake VIP registration number plates of diplomats, 12 fake passports, two PAN cards, 34 stamps of different countries, 12 premium watches, a laptop, a mobile phone, and other documents.

What accused told the police

Additional superintendent of police (Noida STF) Raj Kumar Mishra said that during the investigation, Jain confessed to running an embassy to dupe businessmen and operate a hawala racket.

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“During the investigation, when Jain was questioned about his work, including cars, other countries’ flags, and diplomats’ registration numbers, and asked to provide authenticity, he confessed that he was running a fake embassy to dupe businessmen and operate a hawala racket,” Mishra said.

“Jain was running the fake embassy in Ghaziabad since 2016. Earlier, he used to operate from his father’s home at KB-45, but around five months ago, he, along with his family—wife and minor son—shifted to KB-35 at a rent of ₹1.8 lakh per month, while his father stayed back at his home,” he added.

Jain was produced before an Uttar Pradesh court on Wednesday, which sent him to 14 days of judicial custody.

How was the embassy uncovered?

In the First Information Report (FIR) filed by UP-STF sub-inspector Sachin Kumar, the police said that they have been receiving tips from multiple sources about a fake embassy operating in the Kavi Nagar area.

“For the past few days, police were receiving tips from multiple sources that a fake embassy was operational in Kavi Nagar, and the suspect used to move in vehicles carrying VIP registration number plates of diplomats,” the FIR said. ” He also installed flags of different countries on his cars and was involved in duping people by posing as an ambassador to these micronations.”

Senior officials from UP-STF, on condition of anonymity, told HT that they received inputs from a central agency.

The FIR added, “When central agencies were contacted to check the authenticity, it was confirmed that no embassy can be run without approval from the ministry of external affairs of India, and it is against the sovereignty of India.”

(With inputs from Arun Singh in Noida and Rohit Kumar Singh in Lucknow)