A government official in Uttar Pradesh has reportedly claimed that he was pressurised by a senior to issue backdated certificates showing superstar Amitabh Bachchan's ownership of farmland in Barabanki in the state.
The fresh charges 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 Srivastava, 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 This stands withdrawn."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 transferred 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 claim of owning land.
The magazine said Srivastava had also written a letter to Singh on April 13, 2006, claiming that Sahu had threatened him.