FAKE EMBASSIES OPERATOR CAUGHT : WAS FROM GHAZIABAD
By Anshika Khera
A 47-year old man who is identified as Harshvardhan Jain was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police , accused of operating a fake embassy from a rented house in Ghaziabad. This fraudster was operating an illegal diplomatic mission from a rented house in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar locality. The police said that Harshvardhan converted his office in Ghaziabad neighbourhood into a fake consulate by hoisting flags of different micronations. He also had four luxury vehicles that illegally sported diplomatic registration plates.
He was arrested by the Noida unit of UP STF and his illegal embassy was busted by them . He was reported to be running an illegal west Arctic embassy by taking a rented house in kavi nagar and calling himself ambassador of countries like West Africa , Saborga , Poulvoa , Ladonia , and travelled in vehicles with diplomatic number plates. He was arrested on Wednesday.
In the raid , the police found Rs 44.7 lakhs in cash and foreign currency with an exchange value of rs 30 lakhs. They also found four luxury cars including Audi and Mercedes, 20 fake VIP registration number plates for diplomats , 12 fake passports , two pan cards, 34 stamps from different countries, 12 premium watches , a laptop, a mobile phone and other documents.
In the FIR filed by UP STF sub inspector Sachin Kumar , police stated that they have been receiving multiple tips of information about a fake embassy running in kavi nagar area.
Additional Superintendent of Police Raj Kumar Mishra said that the accused confessed during the investigation that he ran the embassy to dupe a businessman and operated a hawala racket. He was running the embassy in Ghaziabad since 2016.
Earlier, he used to operate from his father’s home in KB-45 but five months ago he , with his wife and minor son , shifted to KB-35 with rent of Rs 1.8 lakhs per month while his father stayed back. Jain was produced before Uttar Pradesh court on Wednesday and from there he was sent to judicial custody of 14 days.