The Ahmednagar district collectorate has issued a notice to actor Rani Mukherjee in the fake land deal case, asking her to prove herself as a farmer in order to be proclaimed as rightful owner of the land.

''We have issued notices to all the parties concerned with the case. This is an agricultural land and cannot be transferred outright to a non-farmer. Mukherjee has to pay as fine more as per the current market rate. Secondly, she will have to prove that she is a farmer since the land is an agricultural plot,'' Deputy Collector of Ahmednagar N Suryavanshi told PTI.

If she is allotted the land, then the actor will first have to pay extra money according to market rates, as the current price of land there is Rs seven to eight lakh per 'guntha' (around 1,000 sq ft).

The actor, who is a strong believer in Shirdi Sai Baba, had purchased 11 gunthas (one-fourth of an acre) for Rs 33 lakh in a village near the temple town in Ahmednagar district in 2005 to construct a bungalow. She paid Rs 1.32 lakh as registration fees.

But now her father Ram Mukherjee has been told by the Collector's office that the land was for farming and hence could not be transferred to Rani's name.

However, there is still some hope for Rani to possess the plot if it turns out as a non-agriculture land.

''We have issued notices to all the people concerned with he land and are investigating this case along with 17 other such cases that have come to light. If this land is found non-farming, then the actor could buy it outright,'' Suryavanshi said.