Amitabh in fresh trouble over Uttar Pradesh farmland
Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lucknow, Oct 23 (IANS) Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan seems headed for fresh trouble over a controversial plot of farmland in Daulatpur village of Barabanki district that he purchased last year.

The 1.383 hectare plot in Daulatpur, about 40 km from here, has been gifted to a proposed college named after his actress daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.

Amitabh had last year gifted two parts of the land to the local 'gram sabha' or village council after he found himself in the thick of a major controversy and court battles on account of ownership of the land.

However, it was reported Friday that Amitabh had "gifted" the entire piece of land to the college.

A local village head, Raj Kumari Singh, has decided to challenge Amitabh's giving away the land to the college.

She said: "A land once gifted to a gram sabha cannot be gifted to anybody else."

Singh termed the latest land gift, executed through the superstar's local power of attorney in Barabanki Friday, as "illegal". She said, "I will file a formal objection against the move, which is violative of Uttar Pradesh land laws."

The Bachchan family laid the foundation stone of the college on Jan 27, 2008, at a high-profile bash in the village where they also flew in prominent politicians like Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, his Man Friday Amar Singh, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and former Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah.