The HC, however, restricted the megastar from selling off his property to any other party till the Canara Bank petition was disposed off. While hearing the petition today, the court also suggested that both the parties should arrive at an out-of-court settlement. The suggestion was given after Bachchan's counsel submitted that his client would be able to repay the entire debt to Canara Bank over a period of time.

The Amitabh Bachchan-promoted ABCL had defaulted in the payment of a Rs 10 crore loan to Canara Bank. When Canara Bank moved court to attach two apartments mortgaged by ABCL, the company was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR),making it difficult for the bank to recover its funds. Once a company enters the BIFR fold, it need not bother about returning its debts so long as the Board does not come out with a revival package.

After ABCL was referred to the BIFR, the Bank decided to file another suit against the loan guarantors -- Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan -- and sought attachment of their personal properties. The petition will come up for hearing again on April 22.

Though Bachchan's submission that he has already mortgaged his house to the Lucknow-based Sahara Finance has surprised Canara Bank officials, the fact is that the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh, who is closely associated with Sahara Finance, had been inducted into the board of ABCL as a director.

Earlier, a faxed questionnaire sent by this newspaper to both ABCL and Sahara asking whether Sahara had bailed out ABCL did not elicit any response.

However, in a written submission to the Reserve Bank of India -- the regulator ofSahara Finance -- in February this year, the Lucknow-based company had said it had not lent any funds to ABCL. The RBI had earlier warned Sahara to invest its 80 per cent of funds mobilised from the common man into government securities.

It is not known how, despite the RBI's warnings, Sahara invested its funds into the loss-making ABCL which is now written off by another public sector establishment Central Bank of India as a complete loss.