Even as the State Government on Wednesday appointed a retired judge of the Orissa High Court as a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe into the alleged missing keys of the Jagannath Temple’s treasury (Ratna Bhandar), a writ petition in the form of public interest litigation (PIl) was filed in the High Court on the day seeking a CBI investigation into the matter.
City-based social worker and lawyer Dilip Kumar Mohapatra moved the court also seeking actions as per law against the persons concerned for illegally transferring and appropriating valuables worth crores of rupees and vast immovable properties of lord Jagannath.
Appending the CBI, the State Government, the Union Government, the temple administration, Gajapati Maharaja of Puri and the RBI as parties, Mohapatra in his petition has alleged that not only the immovable landed properties of the lord have been appropriated but the movasble properties like precious stones, gold and silver of the deities stored in the Ratna Bhandar have been stolen.
Seeking a High Court-monitored CBI probe into the allegations, the petitioner has suggested as to why a committee shall not be constituted to take stock of the valuables stored in the Ratna Bhandar and to make an inventory list of the valuables and comparing it with the previous inventory list held in 1926, the list of which is preserved in the Puri district treasury.
The petitioner has also urged the court for an appropriate direction for recovery of the missing valuables from the Ratna Bhandar and criminal proceedings initiated against the persons involved in the alleged stealing the lords’ valuables. The PIl has, however, not been taken cognisance by the High Court yet, informed the petitioner’s advocate Dr Ashok Mohapatra.