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Man arrested for running fake embassy in Indian city

The Straits Times

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July 27, 2025

There are more than 100 diplomatic missions based in India's capital, New Delhi. What does it take to set up your own? Not much, if you ask Harshvardhan Jain, also known as "Baron H.V. Jain".

- Pragati K.B.

NEW DELHI —

Rent a bungalow, hoist some flags, park a few luxury cars there, photoshop yourself into pictures with world leaders, and — voila! — you have your own embassy. Until you are caught, that is.

Indian police arrested Jain, 47, on July 22 for running a fake embassy in a rented residential building in Ghaziabad, a city just outside New Delhi.

This house, police said, acted alternately as the diplomatic mission for Westarctica or the Principality of Seborga or Poulbia Lodonia depending on the day or the need or the hour.

These entities, technically, are "micronations" — self-proclaimed sovereign states that lack a legal basis for their existence, as they are not recognised by other countries.

For the better part of a decade, such legal inconveniences did little to undermine Jain's operation.

The Straits Times

यह कहानी The Straits Times के July 27, 2025 संस्करण से ली गई है।

हजारों चुनिंदा प्रीमियम कहानियों और 10,000 से अधिक पत्रिकाओं और समाचार पत्रों तक पहुंचने के लिए मैगज़्टर गोल्ड की सदस्यता लें।

क्या आप पहले से ही ग्राहक हैं?

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