BHOPAL: A treasure trove of antique gold coins, jewellery and a rare metallic urn has been unearthed during the reconstruction of a dilapidated house in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
The unearthing of the treasure in the dilapidated house being reconstructed by Shivnarayan Rathore in Chitnis Chowk-Nalcha Darwaza area of Dhar town, came to the fore recently, when one of the labourers who had found the coins, but hushed up the matter, disclosed in an inebriated state to his friends about selling one of those coins to settle outstanding hotel dues and buy a second-hand motorbike.
"It came to our knowledge through a trusted network of confidential informants, after which the concerned labourer was detained and questioned," ASP-Dhar district Devendra Patidar told The New Indian Express on Sunday.
Further investigations revealed that a clay urn containing 39 golden antique coins was found by the labourers on Krishna Janmashtami day, while removing the debris of the dilapidated house.
Instead of informing about it to the owner of the house, the labourers concealed the urn and took it away before distributing the coins among themselves.
The further probe led the police in unearthing another urn, this time a metallic one, containing 47 more antique gold coins, a piece of gold and old jewellery.
“All the eight labourers who hail from Himmatgarh in Dhar district only have been arrested, while all 86 antique gold coins, metallic urn and the piece of gold have been kept in the safe custody of police. The state archaeology department too has been informed about the seizure and their safe custody,” the ASP-Dhar added.
According to Dhar district police sources, while the present market value of the seized antique gold coins is estimated to be worth over Rs 60 lakh, the archaeological value of the same seizure could well be over Rs 1.25 crore.
Investigations suggest that the treasure trove of the antique gold coins in two urns could have been preserved safely in the old house by the ancestors of the Rathore family.