KSRTC buses in Kempegowda Bus Stand in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: Following the recent “world record” fiasco of the Karnataka government, the London Book of World Records has come forward to clear the air over the allegations against its organisation.
On October 17, social media was abuzz with citizens questioning the legitimacy of the world record certificates issued by the organisation to the Karnataka government — one for the highest number of women availing themselves of free travel under the Shakti scheme, and another recognising the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) as the most award-winning road transport corporation.
The company, with an office in Pahar Ganj, New Delhi, held a press conference at the Press Club of India in the capital on October 19.
Speaking to DH, Avinash Sakunde, the founder-president of the organisation, stated that the aim of the press meet was to put allegations to rest.
“We only got to know through social media that people were saying all sorts of things about our company. They were all untrue and just plain misunderstandings, so we decided we need to speak up. In this situation, the Karnataka government won’t lose anything because their achievements are real, it is our company name that has been tarnished,” he said.
He clarified that the company had, in fact, been dissolved earlier. “This was due to address issues. But we fixed the issue and got the company registered again in the UK. When people tried to get information about the company through AI like ChatGPT, they only found the older company as ChatGPT isn’t up to date on the data. This led to all the misunderstanding,” he said, clarifying that the company had been operational for two years, registered under the Companies Act of 2006 under the Company No. 15807855, and working virtually out of New Delhi.
However, the press note stated that the company has only been operational since June 2024. And two different company numbers were mentioned in the same document, 15807855 and 15807885.
“Further, company number 15807885 was dissolved on 15/07/2025 and thereafter another company No. 16667234 was registered on 22/08/2025 with the same name and the person. There is no question of anything dubious, suspicious and issues of a dissolved company. The contact number is also clearly mentioned in our website,” read the press note.
It is common practice for an organisation to charge a verification/processing fee before issuing a world record certificate, said Avinash.
“We only charged Rs 10,000 for this purpose. Companies like Guinness Records are known to charge in lakhs. But this is how the industry works. Once an entity reaches out to us, we thoroughly verify them before issuing the world record,” he added.
He also clarified that the certificate posted on X by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah — and later deleted — was a “sample copy”.