Unknown entity faked docus: Younger Lodha brother's firm

MUMBAI: There’s a new twist in the ‘Lodha’ branding forgery matter. House of Abhinandan Lodha , the company that was blamed for illegally using the ‘Lodha’ brand name by Macrotech Developers , has filed a police complaint at N M Joshi Marg police station in the city saying some unknown entity had committed the fraud using its name.

In its 73-page complaint (and supporting documents) to the police, a senior House of Abhinandan Lodha official stated that the company had discovered that certain forged documents were used on its behalf to change the names of four of its group companies.

The police complaint by House of Abhinandan Lodha was filed on April 3, a day after Macrotech, one of the largest listed real estate companies in India, told the exchanges that a fabricated board resolution and PAN card of one of its directors, were used to change the names of two of House of Abhinandan Lodha group companies using the ‘Lodha’ prefix. The complaint is yet to be converted into an FIR, sources said. An email sent to the House of Abhinandan Lodha spokesperson remained unanswered till the time of going to the press.

Macrotech is headed by Abhishek Lodha while House of Abhinandan Lodha is headed by younger brother Abhinandan. The two companies and the brothers have been fighting a legal battle mainly for the copyright over the ‘Lodha’ brand name in their respective real estate businesses. Recently, the court had asked the two parties to go for mediation and the process is currently ongoing. On April 2, Macrotech informed the bourses that it had set up an internal committee to look into the whole matter of forgery.