'No criminal prosecution if Amitabh forgoes claim'

The lawyer for a village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh, where actor Amitabh Bachchan was allotted a farmland, on Thursday said the panchayat would not launch criminal prosecution against the Bollywood star if he forgoes his claim over the plot.

"There is no malafide intention on the part of Amitabh Bachchan. If he forgoes his claim over the land, the panchayat will not launch criminal prosecution against him", the counsel for Daulatpur gram panchayat R N Gupta told the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.

He made the submission during his arguments on the final hearing of the writ petition filed by Bachchan challenging the order of Faizabad commissioner cancelling allotment of the land to the actor in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district during the previous Samajwadi Party rule.

Justice A N Srivastava of the bench posted the matter for further hearing on Friday as the arguments of the counsels remained inconclusive on Thursday.