The Delhi High Court has restrained Defendant No. 1/John Doe(s) and all others acting on their behalf from using or exploiting or misappropriating the Plaintiff’s brand, goodwill, name including ‘Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited’ and ‘Aditya Birla Capital’ and all associated logos and other identifying attributes or any deceptively similar variants thereof, for any commercial and/or personal gain, without the Plaintiff’s consent and/or authorization.
The Court has also restrained Defendant No. 1/John Doe(s) and all others acting on their behalf from misrepresenting as the Plaintiff, its MD and/or CEO and/or its employees on any medium including but not limited to digital platforms, websites, mobile applications, groups and social media, so that there is no dilution of the Plaintiff’s brand and reputation, and are further restrained from passing off their services as those of the Plaintiff by use of any logo or expressions that are identical or deceptively similar to those of the Plaintiff.
The Court found that fraudulent mobile applications ABSLNHW and ABSLPRIV were deceptively imitating the Plaintiff’s ABSLAMC branding and falsely projecting themselves as official investment platforms of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited, duping innocent members of the public into divulging information and transferring funds under the false belief that they were dealing with the Plaintiff.
Accordingly, Defendant No. 6/WhatsApp LLC is directed to remove/delete the impugned groups and suspend/remove the profiles. Further, Defendant Nos. 2/MeitY and 3/DoT are directed to issue appropriate notifications to ISPs registered under them to block access to the infringing URLs, since the Plaintiff does not press for takedown of remaining URLs.
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh noted that the John Doe Defendant(s) are creating and misusing mobile applications which bear a deceptive similarity to the Plaintiff’s brand, name or logo ABSLAMC, besides using the name and logo of ‘Aditya Birla Capital’, and through such acts, they are engaging in forgery, frauds and misleading the public to invest money in the garb of legitimate transactions. Documents on record demonstrate that Defendant No. 1 are also issuing forged application approval forms which bear false and fabricated stamps, which are used for cheating people and inducing them into delivery of property.
The Court further observed that the John Doe Defendant(s) are not only causing irreparable harm and injury to the Plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation since people believe that they are dealing with the Plaintiff, but are also defrauding the general public. The Plaintiff has no association whatsoever with the impugned applications ABSLNHW and ABSLPRIV or with any other unlawful WhatsApp groups and does not own, operate or endorse any such platform designed to cheat the public.
Briefly, the Plaintiff, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited, is a public limited company and a joint venture between Aditya Birla Capital Limited and Sun Life AMC, incorporated in 1994. The Plaintiff also manages the investment portfolios of Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and Aditya Birla Real Estate Fund. The Plaintiff is authorised to use the trademarks, trade names, logos and domain names associated with Aditya Birla Capital Limited pursuant to a Trademark License Agreement dated Feb 20, 2018, under which it has been granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence for use of the said intellectual property in India. Additionally, pursuant to a Name License Agreement dated May 19, 1999 executed with Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, the Plaintiff has been granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable licence and sub-licence to use the letters ‘Sun Life’ as part of its corporate and trade names in India.
Defendant No. 1 comprises John Doe Defendants whose identities are presently unknown but who are believed to be operating fraudulent mobile applications in a clandestine manner, as also WhatsApp groups and other online platforms, by unauthorisedly using the Plaintiff’s name, logo, brand identity and goodwill. Defendant No. 1 has been impersonating the Plaintiff and its employees, including its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, and circulating fraudulent investment schemes, employment opportunities and financial offers with the intent to deceive the public.
In and around September 2025, the Plaintiff first became aware that Defendant No. 1 was falsely representing an association with the Plaintiff by impersonating its senior officers, misusing their names, identities, photographs and professional credentials, and inviting members of the public to join investment groups by offering market insights, investment advice and assurances of attractive financial returns. One such individual using the name ‘Diya Mehra’ was falsely claiming an association with the Plaintiff and its senior management for the purpose of inducing members of the public to participate in fraudulent investment schemes, purported employment opportunities and other deceptive financial arrangements.
Defendant No. 1 has also induced members of the public to invest through fraudulent mobile applications, namely ABSLNHW and ABSLPRIV, which deceptively imitate the Plaintiff’s ABSLAMC branding and falsely project themselves as official investment platforms of the Plaintiff. Innocent members of the public are being duped into divulging information and transferring funds under the false belief that they are dealing with the Plaintiff. With the assistance of its cyber security team and third-party IT firm ‘IZOOlogic’, the Plaintiff has succeeded in securing the takedown of the mobile applications ABSLNHW and ABSLPRIV, however, there is an apprehension that Defendant No. 1 will again upload such or similar applications to fraud people.
Defendant No. 1 operates multiple bank accounts with various banks, including but not limited to Bank of India, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank, Central Bank of India, Axis Bank, UCO Bank and Unity Small Finance Bank, which are used to receive monies from unsuspecting victims under the guise of legitimate investment transactions. Numerous complaints have been received by the Plaintiff from people who have been misled into investing through fraudulent schemes and applications under the impression that they were genuine offerings of the Plaintiff. Illustratively, one Mr. K. Balakrishnan addressed a complaint dated Feb 28, 2026 to the Plaintiff stating that he had enrolled in the ABSL Joint Investment Plan and had been investing on the HNW account, and the coordinator, Diya Mehra, had assured him that IPO allotments shall be issued restricted to funds available in the HNW account. However, he was allotted an excessively high number of shares far beyond his financial capacity and was compelled to arrange funds through loans. Attention of the Court was also drawn to FIRs lodged by complainants claiming cyber fraud.
