Jamshedpur, May 26: His fans raved about it, while the Bihar government honoured him for it. But, the much talked about postal stamp honour that the Dutch government “bestowed” upon Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwary, it appears, was simply bought for a premium!

In Netherlands, people interested in getting stamps issued in their names have to send a requisition form and if they manage to fulfil all criteria, a personalised stamp can be easily made available by the government.

“It is not exactly an honour. It is a method adopted by the postal department of Netherlands to make the snail mail more popular in the present age, especially since letters have become rather obsolete,” Mohammed Afzal, an official at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi, told The Telegraph.

Tiwary’s “honour” fell flat when an Indian fan based in Netherlands raised doubts over the news after reading a piece on it on bhojpuria.com — a community portal that deals with the achievements of Bhojpuri people across the country and abroad.

Developed by Infogate Exporters Private Limited, the fan’s speculation led to the portal officials questioning the fan. “What we came across was rather shocking,” said Sudhir Kumar, the managing director of Infogate Exporters Private Limited.

Reported to have got a 44-cent-worth stamp issued in his name, Tiwary went public with his achievement, but had no official photographs to corroborate his honour.

Last week, the Bihar government honoured the actor at a ceremony in Raj Bhavan.

The secretary of the star, Vikas Singh, said the superstar would soon address the media and clear his stand on the issue. “He would still like to stand by what he said earlier,” he added, stating that the actor was busy shooting for his new film in Powaii.