As per the police, Harshvardhan Jain, a resident of Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad, operated ’embassies’ of fictitious nation from his rented residence about 35 km from Delhi.
Harshvardhan Jain, a middle-aged man in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, was arrested by the Noida Police on Tuesday for allegedly posing as a diplomat and operating fake ’embassies’ of fictitious ‘nations’ like “West Arctica”, “Saborga”, “Lodonia”, and “Poulvia”, from his rented home in Kavi Nagar, about 35 km from national capital Delhi.
Who is Harshvardhan Jain?
In an official statement, Noida STF SSP Sushil Ghule, said the accused, Harshvardhan Jain, a resident of Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad, was first arrested in back in 2011, when an illegal satellite phone was recovered from him and a case was registered against him at the Kavi Nagar police station.
During his latest criminal run, Jain had been impersonating ambassadors of multiple fictitious countries and lured people with false promises of employment and connections abroad, the SSP said.
“The accused Harshvardhan Jain was operating a fake embassy from a rented house, posing as an ambassador of multiple countries. Some vehicles were also seized, all bearing unauthorized diplomatic number plates. To influence people and con them, he used morphed photos showing himself with prominent public figures,” Ghule said, according to PTI.
The officer revealed that Jain modus operandi was to use these fake identities for brokering, claiming to provide overseas job placements, and running a hawala racket through shell companies. “He was arrested by the STF Noida team,” he added.
The SSP further said that four luxury vehicles were seized by the cops, all with diplomatic-style plates, and 18 more fake diplomatic plates, 12 forged passports, fabricated seals of the Ministry of External Affairs, two fake PAN cards, multiple foreign country seals, and two fake press cards were recovered from him.
How Jain used forged identities to con people?
According to Additional Director General of Police Amitabh Yash, Harshvardhan Jain was running a bogus embassy out of a rented property while projecting himself as a consul or ambassador of micronations such as “West Arctica”, and non-existent countries like “Saborga”, “Poulvia”, and “Lodonia”.
“The accused was running the bogus embassy from a rented house and projected himself as a consul or ambassador of these made-up countries and moved around in vehicles bearing fake diplomatic number plates,” said Yash.
The senior officer added that Jain allegedly used morphed photographs showing himself with prominent figures like the prime minister, the president, and other dignitaries to dupe and mislead people and gain influence.
Jain, Yash said, was also previously associated with controversial godman Chandraswami and international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. In 2011, Jain had been booked for the recovery of an illegal satellite phone, also at Kavi Nagar police station.
After his arrest, STF team seized four luxury vehicles fitted with fake diplomatic number plates, along with 12 forged diplomatic passports, forged PAN cards, and 34 rubber stamps belonging to various countries and private companies. Additionally, the cops also recovered Rs 44.7 lakh in cash, foreign currencies, along with multiple forged diplomatic passports, and 18 fake diplomatic number plates.
The fake embassy operated by Jain also had “flags of these nations”, which were regularly hoisted on its premises to give the impression of a genuine consulate, police said.
Notably, some of the countries Jain used for his con are real places but not recognized by any nation. For example, “West Arctica” is a non-profit for climate action and an unrecognised micronation in Antartica, while Lodonia is a micronation (a self-declared entity but not officially recognised as nation) in southern Sweden.
However, other “countries” like Saborga and Poulvia are completely fictitious entities.
An FIR has been registered against Jain at the local police station and further proceedings are underway, the police added.
(With PTI inputs)
