State endowment officials and police found nearly 522 pieces of rectangular silver bricks, each weighing between 35kg and 40kg, stashed in four wooden treasuries. Officials estimated the current market value of the nearly 18 tonnes of silver so far recovered to be around Rs 80 crore. The containers were hidden in a room that was sealed by walls from all around.
Recovery of the invaluable treasures from the "mysterious" sealed room even took the 200-year-old Mutt authorities by surprise. They said they were ignorant about the existence of the bricks. "I did not know about the existence of such a room ever since I took charge of the Mutt in 1987. It was sealed by walls. There was no door," Mutt's seer Rajgopal Ramanuj said.
It was two labourers, who blew the lid off the enigmatic history. The duo, Barun Nayak and Akhaya, were arrested in Dhenkanal on Friday while selling a few silver bricks they had allegedly stolen from the Mutt. The two were engaged in repair work of the mutt recently when a portion of the mysterious room caved in. Curious to know what was inside they peeped into the room and stumbled upon the treasure. Barun and Akhaya allegedly took away some bricks from one of the treasuries the same night and fled from the place. "During interrogation, they admitted to have stolen the silver bricks from Emar Mutt, prompting us to dig out the truth," Puri SP, Sanjay Kumar said.
Early Saturday, the police personnel accompanied by endowment officials started digging the walls. Much to their astonishment, they found stacks of silver slabs in the four treasuries. It took them nearly seven hours to shift the silver bricks from the containers to outside.
"The Mutt authorities cooperated with us to dig open the room. The silver slabs seem several centuries old. We found some logos like Calcutta', San Francisco' and Sanghai' emblazoned on the bricks," Kumar said.
Mutt seer Ramanuj said: "My immediate predecessor late Srinibas Ramanuj Das had once shared about the hidden treasure with me. But he did not tell me the exact location."
The discovery of the treasure trove from Emar Mutt spread like wildfire in the city prompting hundreds of people, Jagannath temple priests and tourists to throng the place for a glimpse of them. Police soon barricaded the area to avoid any untoward incident. "We had read about hidden treasures in history books and watched in old movies in Ali Baba Chalis Chor. I feels great after coming across such thing these days," said Ganesh Das, a student.
A posse of armed policemen was deployed in and around the Mutt to guard the recovered silver. "We are not shifting the silver bricks to the government treasury immediately. A final decision will be taken on Sunday," said an official. Ramanuj said the treasures belonged to the Mutt. State endowment commissioner Chakradhar Kar said "the ownership status would be decided after discussion with police and Jagannath temple administration." The Emar Mutt plays a vital role in solemnizing some rituals of the deities in the Jagannath temple.http://www.orissatv.in/ video
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