Harshvardhan Jain: the ‘fake Diplomat’ who ran ‘embassy’ in Ghaziabad and his controversial past

Harshvardhan Jain, the accused arrested on July 23 for operating a fake embassy out of a plush, two-storey bungalow in Ghaziabad, hails from a wealthy business family and studied abroad. He was part of an illegal arms trade network and committed financial frauds in the garb of overseas firms, according to the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. He was previously arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in 2012 for illegally possessing a satellite phone.

Mr. Jain (47) did his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from a private college in Ghaziabad and completed an Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from London in United Kingdom, said an official from Uttar Pradesh’s STF probing the case.

His father J.D. Jain is an industrialist and owned a rolling mill in Ghaziabad. His family also has marble mines in Rajasthan named J.D. Marbles, which used to export marbles to London.

Part of illegal arms racket

The accused Harshvardhan Jain had come into contact with Chandraswami, a controversial spiritual adviser.

“It was Chandraswami who introduced [Mr.] Jain to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and India-born Turkish national Ahsan Ali Syed. Together with Syed, Jain allegedly set up over a dozen brokerage firms in the U.K. In 2006, he shifted base to Dubai’s Umm Al-Quwain through a cousin living there,” said the U.P. STF official.

“During his foreign trips, the accused partnered with Hyderabad-based Shafiq and Dubai’s Ibrahim Ali-Bin-Shaarma to float more firms, ostensibly offering overseas job placements and business deals. Such companies are also formed for financial frauds and potentially illegal arms deals,” he added.

Mr. Harshvardhan Jain returned to India in 2011 and was arrested in 2012 by the Ghaziabad police which recovered a satellite phone from him. The police registered a case under the Telegraph Buyers Unlawful Possession Act at Kavi Nagar police station in Ghaziabad.

Mr. Harshvardhan Jain was arrested on July 23 for posing as a ‘Consul‘ the non-existent “West Arctica”, “Saborga”, “Poulvia”, and “Lodonia.”. As many as 12 forged diplomatic passports of the so-called micronations were among several fake documents recovered in a late night raid.

To show his clout the accused parked luxury vehicles with diplomatic number plate outside the bungalow in Ghaziabad. He also had “flags of these nations” which were regularly hoisted on its premises to give an impression of a genuine consulate.