NEW DELHI: Mumbai-based realty and engineering contracts company Kalpataru Group has clarified that it was not connected to the recent ED searches conducted in a money laundering case against an Uttar Pradesh-based business group which has been “mischievously” using its trademark and tradename ‘Kalpataru’. The Kalpataru Group, headquartered in Mumbai, is not related to any “fraudulent” activities or Ponzi schemes, in any manner whatsoever, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate had on December 19 issued a statement to say that it seized Rs 1.02 crore in cash after it conducted searches at multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh in an alleged Ponzi scheme linked money laundering case against “Kalpataru Group of companies.”
The raids, according to the agency, were undertaken on December 18 at 16 premises located in Agra, Mathura and Noida against Mithilesh Singh, the wife of the “main accused” late Jai Kishan Rana, his close associates, chartered accountants, brokers and some agents.
“We categorically deny any association, in any manner whatsoever, with the fraudulent group (Uttar Pradesh-based group) mischievously using our trademark and tradename ‘Kalpataru’.”
“The name “KALPATARU” is an exclusively registered trademark and tradename owned by us recognized by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court and the Registrar of Trade Marks, duly protected under Indian laws,” a Kalpataru spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson said that “despite legal and prohibitory injunction order obtained by one of our group companies from the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in the year 2015 (later culminated into final order dated 03.05.2016) against the said fraudsters, they illegally continue to misuse/infringe our trademark/tradename to create confusion and benefit from our group’s reputation and goodwill.”
The “misuse” of Kalpataru’s tradename and trademark is not only in contravention of the Bombay High Court order but also “misleading and mischievous,” the spokesperson said adding the group was in the process of taking necessary legal recourses against the fraudsters.
