The Uttar Pradesh government Thursday denied reports that Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan had informed Chief Minister Mayawati about his decision to surrender the controversial farmland in Barabanki, allotted to him during the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime.

"The chief minister has so far not received any letter from the cine star in this regard," state Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told.

A report Thursday morning said that Bachchan had decided to surrender the 2.5 bighas of land (approx 70,000 sq ft) in Barabanki district, about 40 km from here, as well as donate his four hectare farm in Pune in Maharashtra to the local village committee.

Bachchan, who was very close to the Samajwadi Party government led by Mulayam Singh, has been in the eye of a storm over possessing farmland. Maharashtra land laws do not permit ownership of agricultural land anywhere in the country by anyone other than a confirmed farmer.

Bachchan's clout with Mulayam Singh and his Man Friday Amar Singh had got him the Barabanki land with the documents allegedly being backdated. The allotment was apparently aimed at giving him the status of farmer so he would not lose ownership of the Pune farm where several millions had already been invested.

The Barabanki allotment came in for judicial scrutiny and was even cancelled by a district magistrate, who was subsequently removed and his successor apparently did the needful.

With the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) coming to power in Lucknow, Bachchan was once more in trouble with the Faizabad commissioner (in charge of Barabanki) declaring the allotment "fraudulent". The entry in revenue records was labelled a "forgery".

Though the Allahabad High Court stayed the commissioner's order, the uncertainty clearly continued.

"Clearly, there was no way he could undo the forgery that had been committed in land records solely with the intent of benefiting Bachchan; perhaps that must be the reason why he thought of 'donating' his land which could not be his any more," a senior IAS officer in the chief minister's secretariat pointed out.