A CITY restaurant has apparently changed hands with the previous owning company now having been dissolved – while a city council candidate has no official involvement, it has been claimed.

Talukdar Ltd is understood to have sold Balti Mahal to The Pear Tree, Worcester Ltd before going out of business on April 23, according to Companies House.

City council candidate Saiful Islam’s Facebook account claims he owns the Astwood Road restaurant, while his election profile refers to “running a restaurant” on the same road.

However, a statement from the restaurant claims he “has no involvement in the business other than supporting us, if required”.

Mr Islam then told the Worcester News yesterday he was the original owner of the business when it opened in 2011 but sold it to Talukdar Ltd around three years ago.

The Pear Tree is listed online as having been incorporated on December 18, last year and we understand it had taken over the restaurant by January.

Talukdar had Hafiz Nur Mohammed listed as its director and someone claiming to be him gave a comment to us last week after the restaurant was cleared of any wrongdoing in an immigration row.

Mr Islam also told us on Monday that Mr Mohammed was currently on holiday and couldn’t be contacted but later confirmed the company is now actually owned by Mazedul Hasan Shakil, director of The Pear Tree.

The statement from the restaurant said: “Balti Mahal is owned by The Pear Tree, Worcester Ltd.

“Mr Islam has previously owned Balti Mahal, but currently has no involvement in the business other than supporting us, if required.

“The Pear Tree, Worcester Ltd t/a Balti Mahal believes in Local Love, which supports the local communities and homeless.

“We work closely with Maggs to support the homeless and have so much more in store for the local communities.”

The owner previously successfully proved that sufficient right-to-work document checks had been made after an employee was arrested in August last year by immigration officers.