Puri: A special team of the State Archaeology Department began a search inside the premises of the Emar Mutt in the pilgrim town on Thursday to trace hidden valuables.
Acting on a letter of request by the Narayan Ramanuj Das, Mahant of Uttarparshwa Mutt, who is in charge of Emar Mutt, the team conducted a thorough search of the entire premises with metal detectors in the presence of Puri Collector Samarth Verma, sub-collector Bhabatarana Sahu, local tehsildar and the Endowment officials.
Talking to mediapersons, Ramanuj Das said during the inventory of the property of Emar Mutt, he had written to the Endowment Commissioner with a request to search the unused areas inside the outer yard, living room of the mahant and four sides of the yagna mandap through metal detectors as he suspects that some ornaments might have been hidden at these places.
“As the mutt has remained open after a major portion has been demolished, there is a possibility that some outsiders will try to steal the valuables if they are secretly kept underground. As these valuables belong to Emar Mutt, they should be protected,” he added.
An official of the Debottar department present at the spot said four places have been identified so far. Those places will be dug out to ascertain is anything valuable is present underneath.
In April, 45 silver ingots weighing about 35 kg each were recovered from Emar Mutt. Earlier, as many as 564 silver-bricks had been recovered from a cellar of the mutt on two occasions. The highest of 522 silver ingots weighing over 18 tonnes and valued at over Rs 90 crore were recovered in 2011.
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