In a film career spanning 40 years, Amitabh Bachchan has been called many things, from Bollywood legend and the “Big B” to the BBC’s Greatest Star of the Millennium.

Now India’s most famous actor has run into legal trouble over his more questionable claim to another title — that of a humble farmer. A court has ruled that Mr Bachchan, 64, acquired a plot of agricultural land in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh fraudulently by claiming that he was a farmer.

Officials in the western state of Maharashtra are also investigating Mr Bachchan’s purchase of farmland there on the basis of his false status as a farmer in Uttar Pradesh. Lawyers and officials involved in the case say that the star could face charges of fraud and forgery, which carry a hefty fine and even a possible jail sentence.

Most Indian states allow only farmers to buy agricultural land, which accounts for about 50 per cent of the country, to ensure that it can produce enough food to sustain itself. Mr Bachchan is one of many wealthy and powerful Indians who have bent the law to acquire agricultural land — often so that they can build lavish country houses.

The star was given the plot in a village in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh by the local government under Mulayam Singh Yadav, its former chief minister.

He has not explained why he was given the 90,000sq ft (8,300sq m) plot, but he was born in Uttar Pradesh, his wife represents the state in parliament and he is known to be a close friend of Mr Yadav.

According to state records, Mr Bachchan has owned the land since 1983 and uses it for agriculture. Villagers in the area protest that he is neither a resident nor a farmer, and that they should have first right to the land. Last year the Barabanki district magistrate cancelled the land allotment to Mr Bachchan, who then appealed to a court in the nearest town of Faizabad. It ruled that he was not a farmer and that the entry in the land records was “tampered and forged”.

Surendra Raje, the government lawyer who argued the case, said that the forgery was done to enable Mr Bachchan to acquire a larger plot of farmland in Maharashtra.

Mr Bachchan bought a 20acre (nine-hectare) plot of agricultural land near Pune in Maharashtra in 2000. Since farmland in Maharashtra also can be bought only by farmers, he used his status as a farmer in Uttar Pradesh to legitimise the purchase.

Naravan Rane, revenue minister of Maharashtra, said that Mr Bachchan could face prosecution. “If it is found that he is not a farmer then the Government will take back the land and file a case,” he said. “A case of fraud and forgery will be filed against him.”

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