New Delhi: Actor Rani Mukherjee may have sold the Taj Mahal in a movie, but in real life, she might have been duped in a land deal.

The actor had reportedly paid Rs 33 lakh in December 2005 for a non-transferable farmland near Shirdi in Maharashtra.

After the purchase, Rani is said to have paid a stamp duty of Rs 1.32 lakh for registration in the district tehsildar office, but the ownership of the land could not be transferred to her name because the tehsildar said it was government land leased out to a farmer. Now the deal has been scrapped by the district collector.

The farmer Sampat More is now apparently willing to return the money to Rani. The land was purchased in the name of Rani's father Ram Mukherjee.

The actor, who was aware that it was agricultural land, has not come forward to lodge any complaints so far.

The Government of Maharashtra has certain procedures where non-farmers are allowed to buy agricultural land and it is believed that Rani’s father had agreed to follow the law of the land.

Seventeen other people in the area have been duped in land cases in a similar manner.