Mid Day

New Delhi/Mumbai, Jan 26: Amitabh Bachchan’s health may not be the only reason the hugely popular Kaun Banega Crorepati II was canned, it emerged on Wednesday.

According to news channel India TV, Star may have been forced to scrap the show because of an alleged scam in the selection of contestants.

KBC 2 received 25 lac calls for each episode from people desperate to be in the hot seat. But exactly how 10 contestants were chosen has now been called into question.

India TV says it got a call from a KBC fan, who claimed to have proof that the selection process was dubious. The fan, whose identity will be revealed today, works at a bank in Udaipur.

Asked to comment on the allegations, Samir Nair, chief operating officer of Star India, did not respond. An email response to India TV from Peter Mukerjea, chief executive of Star, said simply that he would “revert in due course”. Mid Day made many attempts to contact Bachchan, but he was unavailable for comment.

The fan’s research shows that at least five contestants made it to the show twice, though the odds of that happening even once are almost zero.

He also found that nine BSNL employees and one from MTNL made it to the final 10, in an apparent violation of the rules, which bar employees of KBC 2’s advertisers and partners from participating. All this information is available on Star’s website, www.indya.com.