Official says he was forced to issue documents on Big B's land

NEW DELHI: A government officials reported charges in Uttar Pradesh came close on the heels of the Bollywood star's decision to surrender the land allotted to him by the former Uttar Pradesh government in an attempt to end the raging controversy.

"I was asked by then District Magistrate R S Sahu to endorse the document showing Amitabh owned land in Barabanki. I tried to resist but I was literally cornered," former Fatehpur Deputy Collector Mahendra Singh told 'Outlook' magazine.

He claimed that besides Sahu, the then Tehsildar A K Srivastav also coerced him to issue the fake certificate.

The magazine also published a letter purportedly written by Singh to Sahu which said "on the midnight of April 11-12, 2006, in the presence of Deputy Collector Umesh Mishra, undue pressure was brought on me to certify Bachchan as owner of plot No 702 on a backdated certificate dated 18-3-2006. This stands withdrawn."

He wrote the letter on April 19 and eight days later, he was transfered out.

Singh claimed that the certificate had to be dated a few days before the earlier district magistrate Ashish Goel ordered an inquiry into the authenticity of Bachchan's clproof of Bachchan's ownership of land he threatened me. I was told that if I didnt do as I was told I would face dire consequences," the magazine claimed.