Heard of Seborga or Westarctica? A man in India pretended to run embassies for them
The suspect impersonated an ambassador and allegedly duped people for money by promising overseas employment, senior police officer Sushil Ghule, of an Uttar Pradesh special task force in northern India, said.
Harshvardhan Jain, 47, allegedly claimed to be an adviser or ambassador to entities such as 'Seborga' or 'Westarctica'.
Police recovered multiple doctored photographs showing Jain with world leaders, and fake seals of India's foreign ministry and nearly three dozen countries, Ghule said.
Jain was also suspected of illegal money laundering through shell companies abroad, he said.
He is also facing charges of forgery, impersonation and possessing fake documents.
Police recovered four cars bearing fake diplomatic plates and nearly 4.5 million Indian rupees ($A79,103) and other foreign currencies in cash from Jain's rented premises, which were adorned with international flags of several nations.
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Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. However, after the gunbattle on Monday, state-run Pakistan Radio claimed that India had planned "fake encounters" targeting Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons. It provided no further details. Pakistan has long accused India of staging gunbattles in Kashmir and sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners out from Indian jails and killing them in faked gunfights while passing them as combatants. New Delhi has regularly rejected these allegations and accused Pakistan of sending armed militants into India and orchestrating attacks. The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after US mediation. The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Three suspected militants killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed on Monday in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India's lower house of the parliament. Shah said rifle cartridges found at the site of Monday's fighting matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the bodies of the men were identified by residents who had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out the massacre in April. It was not clear whether the locals were considered accomplices. There was no immediate response from Islamabad. 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The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to the mountainous areas of Jammu in the past few years. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies it. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
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Relatives of Air India disaster victim reveal they were sent the wrong remains by Indian authorities
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West Australian
3 days ago
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Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek: Air India crash victim's mother heartbroken after authorities sent wrong body to the UK
The mother of a wellness influencer who died in the Air India plane crash has been left distraught after authorities sent another victim's body back to the UK. Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek and his partner Jamie were among those on flight AI171, which plummeted to the ground shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, India, in June. The couple had travelled to India for a 10-day wellness retreat. Mr Greenlaw-Meek's mother, Amanda Donaghey, flew to India shortly after she was told the devastating news about her son. 'Visiting the site and seeing it was something I felt like I had to do. I wanted to understand what had happened,' she told The Sunday Times . 'I remember all these burnt trees. The trees were scorched black. But there were still birds and squirrels in those trees, which I found quite profound. 'It was like a bomb site. You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering.' Ms Donaghey, desperate to find her missing son's remains, gave a blood sample to help identify him through DNA. When local officials found his body, the 66-year-old mother was told that his body would be sent back to the UK in a casket. However, while in the throes of planning a funeral, she received a devastating call from police: A British coroner had determined from a more thorough DNA test that the remains inside the casket did not belong to her son. 'It was heartbreaking,' Ms Donaghey said. 'We don't know what poor person is in that casket. This is an appalling thing to have happened.' The grieving mother has called on the UK Government to do all it can to uncover what happened to her son's remains and 'bring Fiongal home.' Ms Donaghey is one of many heartbroken parents who have had to rearrange funeral plans due to the mix-up of bodies. Another family was given 'co-mingled' remnants of more than one person in their casket, so a process of separating the remains had to be undertaken before the funeral went ahead, according to the Daily Mail . In an eerie video posted just before boarding the doomed flight, the wellness influencer appeared in what would be his final video on social media. Mr Greenlaw-Meek and his partner Jamie can be seen preparing for their long-haul journey back to London, reflecting on their time in India. 'We are at the airport just boarding,' Mr Greenlaw-Meek said, before bidding farewell to India ahead of what his partner suggested would be a '10-hour flight back to England.' At the end of the heartbreaking video, Mr Greenlaw-Meek said, 'Going back happily, happily, happily calm.' It is believed that only Indian authorities performed DNA tests on victims, with no checks from international organisations.
