The Canara Bank-ABCL court case has snowballed into a major controversy as the company was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on March 22, four days after the appointment of the court receiver (March 17) for taking possession of the company's assets. A banking industry source said: "ABCL is looking for an `escape route' as the promoters are not keen to pay back the amount due to the bank by going to BIFR."

The case came up for hearing in high court on Friday and was adjourned till Monday. According to sources closely tracking the case, Canara Bank wants to attach the property ofthe star as the resale value of the property mortgaged as collateral with the bank-going by real-estate consultants' estimates- is around Rs 80 lakh. Two flats given as collateral are located on the third floor of Bhanu Apartments at Ruia Park Road, Juhu.

"We are considering attaching the personal properties of the actor which includes a bungalow at Juhu, the resale value of which will be around Rs 12-13 crore," sources said. The actor's Juhu bungalow measures about 1,200 square metres.

In a civil suit filed on March 17 for payment of the outstandings, Canara Bank charged the ABCL chairman Amitabh Bachchan and vice-chairman Jaya Bachchan for the non-payment of bank advances provided by way of open-cash credit facility of Rs 2.4 crore, overdraft against book debts amounting to Rs 5.6 crore, foreign letter of credit comprising Rs 2.5 crore and guarantee facility worth Rs 3.5 crore.

According to the charges laid out by the bank, the company has not paid the principal amount as well as the interest accruedon it from the time the loan was given to the company. As on March 31, 1998, the company's total stock stood at Rs 18.96 crore. Going by the stock statement of the company, as on December 31, 1998, the total stock of ABCL productions (released movies) stood at Rs 25.76 crore. The total cost incurred for production stood at Rs 16.33 crore. The company realised Rs 12.73 crore from the released movies and yet to recover another Rs 15.29 crore. The cost incurred on unreleased production stood at Rs 10.46 crore as on December 31, 1998.