Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan will be investigated once again for allegedly failing to pay income tax worth Rs 1.66 crore from his earnings in 2001-2002, when he hosted gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati. The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Income Tax department to reopen the case. The bench set aside the Bombay High Court's 2012 decision to rule in favour of the actor in an appeal filed by the Income Tax Commissioner. The department had then taken the case to the Supreme Court.

The case involves irregularities in the income Bachchan had declared for the 2001-2002 financial year. According to NDTV, Bachchan had first said he earned Rs 14.99 crore that year, then made a revised declaration of an income of Rs 8.99 crore. He later withdraw the revision. In 2005, an assessing officer determined he had earned Rs 56.41 crore. The following year, the department issued a notice to him stating they wanted to reopen the assessment given the various conflicting figures and other irregularities.

In 2008, the High Court had granted him a large income tax exemption on his earnings from the show, after he argued that he was an artiste and should be given some leeway. The I-T department, however, contested this saying relief should only be granted in case of earnings from abroad. The matter went on in the High Court till 2012, when it ruled in Bachchan's favour.