Fabricated diplomatic identity, morphed photos, forged MEA credentials: How a man ran ’embassy’ of Westarctica in Ghaziabad

The bungalow, just a few buildings away from Jain’s ancestral home, had been converted into what he called the “Embassy of Westarctica” — its name possibly inspired by a US-based non-profit focused on Antarctic conservation, police said. Incidentally, the region or ‘micronation’ that it refers to, in Western Antarctica, is unclaimed by any country and has no functioning government.

Jain allegedly projected himself as “a globe-trotting diplomat”. A small golden nameplate at the door introduced him as “His Excellency Harsh Vardhan Jain, Royale Consigliere, Principato di Seborga” — the Royal Advisor to Seborga, an unrecognised micronation in Italy’s Liguria province. On the bungalow’s balcony and roof, fake flags were put up, including one with a white cross on a blue field and another featuring a royal crown and shield.

According to the STF, Jain allegedly used this carefully crafted setup — that also included “morphed” photographs of him with Prime Ministers and Presidents – to con businessmen and launder money for at least the past two years. He moved his operations from his ancestral home to the rented bungalow in February this year. “He used the guise of diplomacy to influence businessmen, promise them access to international markets, and run a hawala network through shell companies,” the STF said in a statement Wednesday.

Harsh Vardhan Jain

Four vehicles with diplomatic plates, 20 additional fake number plates, 12 forged diplomatic passports, stamps and seals bearing “forged” credentials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), two fake PAN cards and two press cards were seized in Tuesday’s raid. Also seized was a stash of notes in Indian and foreign currencies: Rs 44.7 lakh in cash, over 17,000 Euros, 14,000 US dollars, 14,000 Dirhams, 5,200 pounds, and a single Turkish Lira note.

STF Senior Superintendent of Police Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan told The Indian Express, “The cars and the property that he had built, and the whole lavish setup was to show that he is an important person. He used to assure people that he would get their work done in these fictional countries.”

Business documents recovered from the site have been linked to multiple shell entities allegedly used in the illegal operation. “Some of the companies in his name are still still active, many others are shut — we are looking into their transactions and identifying the people he was in contact with, to understand the extent and nature of the fraud,” SSP Chandrabhan said.

Jain told investigators that he studied MBA in London and that his father is an industrialist based out of Ghaziabad, the STF said in a statement. He said he came in contact with self-styled godman Chandraswami in 2000. The STF said Jain claimed to have been appointed the “honorary ambassador” of Westarctica in 2016. According to the STF, Jain had engaged four persons as “staff” members at the “embassy” — they have given their testimonies.

The FIR, registered at Kavi Nagar police station, said that “for the past several days, information was being received from various sources that in Kavi Nagar Ghaziabad area, people were illegally putting flags of different countries and painting them on vehicles.”

“The embassy is being run by using diplomatic number plates and various people are being cheated through the embassy. Central agencies were contacted in this regard. They were informed that the embassy cannot be run without the permission of the Ministry of External Affairs; it is against the sovereignty of India. The information was conveyed to senior officials who directed them to take effective action.”

According to STF officers, Jain had also been projecting himself as the diplomatic representative of other micronations and fictional countries such as Lodonia and Poulvia.

This is also not Jain’s first brush with the law. In 2011, he was booked for illegal possession of a satellite phone.