New Delhi: Bollywood actors seem to have a knack of getting into messy property disputes. After superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, it's Rani Mukherjee's turn now.

Rani’s land in Shirdi, Maharasthra, which has been mired in controversy for the past month, was declared illegal by a court on Tuesday. Now, the state government is to take possession of the land.

The actor, who had been served a legal notice in the land scam case, had reportedly paid Rs 33 lakh in December 2005 for a non-transferable farmland near Shirdi.

After the purchase, Rani had paid a stamp duty of Rs 1.32 lakh for registration. But the title of the land could not be transferred to her name as it belonged to a farmer. The land was purchased in the name of Rani's father Ram Mukherjee.

"The matter came to light when Ram Mukherjee sent a representative to the Tehsildar office for final transfer of the land. It was then observed that it was agricultural land and hence could not be sold to a non-farmer," PTI quoted a municipal official as saying.

"Moreover, the land was originally under the jurisdiction of village panchayat. Today, it comes under the Municipal Corporation. For any construction, permission of Revenue Department is essential, which has not been taken by Rani Mukherjee. Hence, there was no record of her name in this land deal," he added.

On realising that she was on the verge of losing Rs 33 lakh, Rani reportedly approached Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh a couple of days ago for help and Deshmukh then asked the Ahmednagar Collector to inquire into the matter.

(With agency inputs)