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India's 'Baron of Westarctica' arrested over fake embassy had 6 Dubai bank accounts
Indian media reports, citing police sources, say that Jain travelled abroad 145 times between 2005 and 2015, with 54 of those trips to the UAE
- PUBLISHED: Wed 6 Aug 2025, 6:00 AM UPDATED: Wed 6 Aug 2025, 7:23 AM
Harshvardhan Jain liked to call himself the Baron of Westarctica. He drove cars with diplomatic number plates, lived in a sprawling two-story villa draped in national flags, and introduced himself as an ambassador. He wasn’t.
The 47-year-old Indian was arrested last month in Kavi Nagar, a quiet neighbourhood in Ghaziabad, a city on the outskirts of New Delhi.
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According to a press release issued by the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police and reviewed by Khaleej Times, he was running a fake embassy out of a rented bungalow. Officers recovered four luxury sedans, at least 20 counterfeit diplomatic plates, and 12 unauthorised passports from the premises.
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His remand ended on August 2, and investigators are now looking into his frequent travel and financial links to the UAE. Indian media reports, citing police sources, say that Jain travelled abroad 145 times between 2005 and 2015, with 54 of those trips to the UAE.
Watch a video, of the police detaining Jain, here:
Amitabh Yash, the head of the STF, declined to comment, stating that all details had been already shared in the official communication.
The STF press release describes Jain as the son of an industrialist who ran a steel rolling mill in Ghaziabad and owned mines in Rajasthan. During his interrogation, Jain reportedly told police he held an MBA from a London university.
He moved to the UAE in 2006 and initially lived with a cousin. There, he began setting up companies and claimed to offer job placements abroad, a role investigators now believe he used to dupe people through fraudulent recruitment schemes.
By 2011, Jain had returned to India, but his obsession with titles and symbols of statehood had only grown. In 2012, he was named “advisor” to Seorga, a self-declared micronation, and later claimed ambassadorships from other fictional entities such as Poubia and Lodonia.
Soon, his house began resembling a diplomatic mission. The property displayed international flags, bore an official-looking signboard, and featured a fleet of vehicles fitted with false diplomatic plates. A plaque at the entrance identified it as the ‘Grand Duchy of Westarctica’, a micronation that claims territory in Antarctica.
The illusion came crashing down on July 22 when the STF raided the property.
Inside, investigators found Rs4.4 million (Dh184,000) in cash, foreign currency, 12 unauthorised diplomatic passports, 34 rubber stamps allegedly used for forging documents, and photographs of Jain with several controversial individuals, including the late Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and Indian spiritual figure Chandraswami. The STF is now examining a money transfer of approximately Dh8.4 million, believed to have been made by Khashoggi to Jain between 2002 and 2004.
Westarctica has since clarified that Jain was given an honorary consul title in 2016 in exchange for a donation, and had no official standing to represent the entity. His affiliation has now been “indefinitely suspended.”
Investigators said Jain maintained six bank accounts in Dubai. At least one Dubai-registered company is believed to be among 25 entities he allegedly used to move funds.
According to the STF, his financial operations were part of a wider network involving international associates. One such associate is believed to have helped him set up shell companies in multiple countries and route funds through offshore accounts, making the origins and destinations difficult to trace.
Jain is not the only person in recent memory to have posed as a diplomat in Ghaziabad.
In March, police arrested Krishna Shekhar Rana, a 66-year-old zoology professor, after he posed as an Omani envoy and sought protocol and security cover. Authorities also recovered a black Mercedes-Benz with a fake diplomatic number plate.
Mazhar Farooqui, or Maz, is a multiple award-winning investigative journalist and Senior Editor at Khaleej Times. Renowned for exposing corruption and uncovering major scams, he is also the author of The Maz Files: Scoops, Scams & Showdowns.