In a surprising twist, Noida Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday revealed a fake embassy run from a rented bungalow in Uttar Pradesh's high-end residential area of Ghaziabad's Kavi Nagar locality.
According to officials, the house had been turned into a fake diplomatic mission with luxury cars of the top brands sporting fake diplomatic number plates parked outside — all to replicate the cover of a real foreign mission.
The operation is said to have been orchestrated by Harsh Vardhan Jain, who was apprehended at the site during a July 22 raid following inputs from central agencies.
Initial investigations indicate that Jain had converted the property into an alleged embassy of fictional or self-proclaimed micronations, impersonating them as their official representative. Officials found names such as West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, and Lodonia among those fictional entities he claimed to represent.
To create a credible façade, Jain purportedly employed a range of deceptive methods — fake diplomatic certificates, false number plates, and manipulated pictures of himself with top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and other foreign dignitaries.
In the opinion of investigators, these doctored photographs were deployed as part of a highly sophisticated ploy to win credibility and trap unsuspecting victims in his network of deception.
Snapshots recovered from the raid also indicate potential connections with infamous global arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi, and embattled spiritual leader Chandraswami.
Jain's operation went far beyond posing as diplomats, authorities say. His bogus network is suspected of defrauding individuals and companies by promising false hopes of overseas job placements and international business arrangements.
Adding weight to the seriousness of the case, STF authorities suspect Jain was perhaps involved in hawala activities, laundering money through shell companies. Interestingly, earlier in 2011, a satellite phone was confiscated from him, further fuelling national security suspicions.
The raid last week recovered a large amount of forged documents and money. Seized were:
Four luxury vehicles with forged diplomatic license plates
12 forged diplomatic passports linked to non-existent micronations
34 fake seals purporting to be from foreign governments and companies
Two fake PAN cards
Fake documents bearing forged seals of the Ministry of External Affairs
Two fake press passes
₹44.7 lakh in cash, foreign exchange of several nations
18 other fake diplomatic number plates
A new FIR has been filed at Kavi Nagar police station, and court proceedings are ongoing.
Officials suspect Jain was not alone and are trying to determine if there were other potential accomplices involved in the scam. The investigation continues.
Read also| Watch| Indian Army Inducts US-Made Apache Helicopters, Dubbed 'Tanks in the Air'
