Ghaziabad fake embassy case: Investigators look to uncover self-styled envoy’s overseas links

Harshvardhan Jain, along with arms dealer Adnan Khawaja and UK-based businessman Ahsan Ali Sayed, allegedly registered multiple companies in foreign countries.

Lucknow: Harshvardhan Jain, 47, who was arrested by the UP Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday for running a fake embassy from his two-storey house in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar, was found to be entangled in a complex web of financial deceit, said STF officials on Thursday.

The accused used diplomatic number plates on his vehicles and morphed photos with prominent figures like the Prime Minister and President to impress people.

Jain, along with arms dealer Adnan Khawaja and UK-based businessman Ahsan Ali Sayed, allegedly registered multiple companies in foreign countries, including UK-based companies –State Trading Corporation Ltd and East India Company UK Ltd, UAE-based Island General Trading Co LLC, Mauritius-based Indira Overseas Ltd and Cameroon-based Cameron Ispat Sarl, investigations revealed.

His introduction to Adnan Khawaja and Ahsan Ali Sayed was facilitated by controversial political figure, Chandraswami. Sayed, a Hyderabad native, acquired Turkish citizenship and has a history of fraudulent activities, an officer said.

He informed that Sayed’s Western Advisory Group was based in Switzerland and Bahrain. It allegedly provided loan services to Swiss companies, collecting approximately £25 million in brokerage fees for facilitating loans worth £70 million between 2008 and 2011. Sayed absconded after receiving the payments and he was arrested by London police on November 22, 2022, at the request of the Swiss government. In July 2023, the Westminster Court in London approved his extradition to Switzerland. The Zurich Court sentenced Sayed to 6.5 years in prison for fraudulently taking brokerage fees and absconding.

The official said the STF is investigating Harshvardhan Jain’s involvement with Ahsan Ali Sayed and the alleged financial fraud. He said Jain’s two PAN cards, used to open bank accounts and conduct financial transactions, are also under scrutiny.

“During investigation, the STF found Jain’s 11 bank accounts in Dubai, Mauritius, UK and India. These included six in Dubai, three in the UK and one each in Mauritius and India,” he emphasised.

Jain has been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the STF is working with local police to obtain his remand for further investigation. Jain, who was operating an illegal embassy of Westarctica, a micronation located in the western portion of the continent of Antarctica, was arrested from his rented house in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. The accused allegedly posed as consul/ambassador of countries like West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, and Lodonia.

The accused used diplomatic number plates on his vehicles and morphed photos with prominent figures like the Prime Minister and President to impress people. His main activities included brokering deals for companies and individuals to work abroad and running a hawala racket through shell companies. In 2012, Jain was found with illegal satellite phones and a case was registered at the Kavi Nagar police station in Ghaziabad.