The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the UP government's petition against actor Amitabh Bachchan in the Barabanki land deal case.
The UP government had filed a petition in the SC alleging fraud in the entries related to the land in the government's revenue record.
The state government had challenged the reprieve granted to the actor by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
The Allahabad HC had absolved Bachchan of the criminal charges in December ruling that since the filmstar had relinquished his claim over the land, all criminal proceedings against him be dropped. The HC had on December 11 last year given a clean chit to the actor, observing that there was no finding that the actor "himself committed any fraud or manipulated any surreptitious entry in the revenue records".
The SC dismissed the petition saying there was no need of any action against Bachchan and gave him a clean chit. The SC, in its order, also declared that since the actor had returned the land in question, therefore he was not liable and strict action should be taken against the officials of the Land Transaction Department instead, demanding an explanation for the alleged discrepancies.
This comes as a huge relief for the actor as he was accused in the past of attaining the land with the help of Mulayam Singh, the then Chief Minister of UP.