LUCKNOW, July 29 -- After a week-long investigation, the UP Special Task Force (STF) has taken into custody a 47-year-old Ghaziabad man, Harshvardhan Jain, who allegedly posed as a diplomat of a fictitious country and duped people with false promises of foreign jobs. Investigators suspect he amassed over Rs.100 crore in overseas assets and floated 25 companies in various countries.

Jain was arrested on July 22 for allegedly running an illegal diplomatic mission of a self-declared micronation called Westarctica from a rented house in Ghaziabad's Kavi Nagar. A local court granted five-day police custody remand on Monday, following which the Noida unit of the STF took custody of Jain on Tuesday for interrogation. He will remain in STF custo...