Days after criticising the treasure hunt in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took a U-turn and praised seer Shobhan Sarkar based on whose dream the Archaeological Survey of India is carrying out excavation in Unnao district.
Union Minister Chandan Das Mahant, an ardent follower of godman Shobhan Sarkar, is said to have used his clout to get formal instructions issued to the ASI to undertake the excavation. Sharat Pradhan reports
The Archaeological Survey of India on Friday began excavating the remains of the dilapidated fort of Unnao's erstwhile ruler Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh to verify claims made by a seer that nearly 1,000 tonnes of gold is buried there.
While the Archeological Survey of India was digging out nothing but broken glass bangles and pieces of rusted iron during the excavation inside Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh fort in Unnoa, Uttar Pradesh, seer Shobhan Sarkar on Thursday claimed that gold would be found only if he was invited to the site.
After weeks of digging, the Archaeological Survey of India has stopped hunting for gold in Raja Ram Bux Singh's fort near Daundia Kheda village, in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.
The good samaritan Sadhu is just what the Finance Minister had prayed for.
The Archaeological Survey of India on Sunday installed a couple of close-circuit cameras around the ruins of an 18th century fortress in Daundiya-Khera village of Unnao district (about 140 km from Lucknow), where its teams were busy digging in search of 1000 tons of gold, believed to have been buried there -- as per a dream witnessed by a popular local godman Baba Shobhan Sarkar.
Success of the "dream gold" hunt still remains a "dream" even as excavation for possible 1,000 tonnes of gold at Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh fort in Daundiya Khera village in Unnao continued on the 27th day.
A month after the Archaeological Survey of India began excavations in Daudiya Kheda area in Unnao following a seer's claim that 1,000 tonnes of gold was buried at the site, officials on Monday stopped the dig after hitting a dead end.
Contradicting TV reports about discontinuation of the gold hunt inside the ruins of an 18th century fort in Daundiya Kheda village of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh, a senior Archaeological Survey of India official said in Lucknow on Tuesday that the excavation in search of gold will go on.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere in the ongoing Archaeological Survey of India excavation for gold supposed to be buried under the ruins of a 19th century fort in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, saying it cannot pass an order on the basis of assumption.