The Shrirampur sub-divisional officer Nandkumar Suryavanshi has decreed that the Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee will have to pay a sum of Rs 66 lakh to the State government to regain possession of a plot that she had ‘purchased' from a real estate agent in Shirdi.

It may be mentioned here that the government had impounded the plot after it was detected that the land originally belonged to the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation and was extended on a lease.

The leased land changed hands twice thereafter, before it was divided into 17 plots and sold to various people, including the actress.

According to Suryavanshi, the ownership claimed by Rani Mukherjee and 16 others was illegal. She and others will have to pay as per prevailing market rates to reclaim the plots.