Row Over Missing Keys Of Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandara Intensifies

Puri: While doubts and apprehensions are looming large over the decision of the 16-member search committee not to open the inner room of the Ratna Bhandara of Jagannath temple for inspection, fresh controversies have surfaced over the missing keys.

Though the chief administrator of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Pradip Kumar Jena had informed the media that although the 16-member search committee had taken five sets of key of the inner room of the Ratna Bhandara from the iron chest of the temple office on April 4, it did not feel necessary as the members could see all sides of the inner room through an iron grill.

However, he did not confirm whether the keys the committee had taken from the iron chest of the temple belonged to the locks of the inner rooms of the Ratna Bhandara.

However, the press briefing of Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal on Friday tells a different story altogether. Agarwal maintained that no key of the Ratna Bhandara was handed over to the district treasury office. “We have verified the details and found that the keys were not handed over to the treasury,” he pointed out.

He further informed that the search committee members had gone inside the Ratna Bhandara with the keys from the iron chest inside the temple office after not finding them in the district treasury office.

Now the question is why the search committee had gone inside the Ratna Bhandara after not finding the keys in the district treasury despite being aware that the keys it had taken from the temple office were not original? Moreover, it is equally surprising as to how the temple administration and the servitors’ bodies have no knowledge till date that the keys of the inner room of the Ratna Bhandara are not with the district treasury after it was opened for the last time in 1985.

A day before the opening of the Ratna Bhandara on April 4 for inspection, the Chhatisha Nijog had prepared a list of procedures at a meeting in which it was made it clear that in case the search committee members failed to open the lock of the inner room of the Bhandara, the lock would be broken in their presence. But it is still unclear as to why the members did not break open the lock of the inner room and decided to examine the inner side through the iron grill.

Since no one knows about these missing keys, apprehension over the safety of the Ratna Bhandara is justified.

Expressing resentment over the incident, the Daitapati Nijog, the servitors’ body of the temple has demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

“We want that a retired Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court should probe into the incident and find out where and with whom the keys are at present and where they should be kept,” Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, president of the Daitapati Nijog told the media.

On the other hand, the Sachetan Nagarika Manch, Puri has lodged a complaint with the Simhadwara Police station demanding a thorough investigation.

“If there is a provision that the Ratna Bhandara keys should be handed over to the district treasury, why they have not been kept since last 33 years and who is responsible for this? “Since it is not known as to where these keys are now and with whom, we want to know whether the jewellery and the ornaments kept inside the sinduk (wooden containers) in the inner room of the Ratna Bhandara are safe,” convenor of the Manch, Prasanna Das, said