PURI: Amid tight security, a team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) using metal detectors on Thursday searched the Emar Mutt campus to unearth precious metals like gold and silver believed to be buried underground.
The team, after a three hour long operation, earmarked two places on the mutt premises for excavation. However, Trust Board chief Narayan Ramanuj Dash, who had urged the authorities to scan the Mutt to unearth buried treasure, was dissatisfied with ASI’s efforts. He said metal detectors have a range of 18 inches and the levelling and thick layers of decorative tiles on the Mutt’s floor have hindered the chances of detection. “Powerful metal detectors with a range of 4-5 feet are required to detect the treasure,” Dash said.
Back in 2011, a police team while chasing a thief had chanced upon a hidden treasure and recovered 522 huge silver ingots weighing over 18 tonne from a room sans door at the mutt. The silver ingots are kept at the reserve police special treasury. The then mahant of Emar Mutt Rajgopal Ramanuj Dash was arrested along with a few others in this regard. Rajgopal was suspended by the State Endowment department after his arrest. In 2017, while the mutt was being taken over by the Trust Board 47 more silver ingots were recovered besides other valuable articles.
After Rajgopal came out of prison on bail, he stayed in five rooms of the mutt and did not vacate them. He was later evicted from the mutt last year by the new Trust Board, headed by Dash. Emaar Mutt, located in front of Srimandir main gate, is considered the richest monastery of the State. Spread over five acre of land, the Mutt premises has several dilapidated structures. Except a temple, store and residence of the Mahant, every other structure in the Mutt was demolished and levelled as part of the heritage corridor project.