With its 10-day hunt for the prophesied 1,000 kg gold seemingly hitting the dead-end at a fort in Daudikala village in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is now banking its hopes on the nearby area to discover the precious metals.
On Monday, the ASI wrote to the Union Culture Ministry seeking its permission to excavate another site near the Ganga river on a trial basis though it has been maintaining that the excavation work is not being undertaken on the basis of the seer’s dream about hidden treasure at the 19th century old fort of former king Raja Ram Bux.
“In the last 10 days till Monday, the agency has unearthed around 4.50 metres but there is no sign of any metal-gold, silver or any alloy as suggested by a report of the Geographical Survey of India (GSI),” said sources in the Ministry.
In fact, in the name of metal, a broken piece of iron nail has been excavated apart from glass bangles, fragmenting miniature stone figure of lion and terecotta arecanut shaped beads (necklace used for animals).
“The ASI has also excavated burnt brick structure and brick walls besides a few piece of shapeless pottery,” said the sources.
Now, the team of the GSI with the consultation of the ASI officials has suggested another area at the site close to river Ganga for trial excavation, the sources added.
“We are awaiting approval from the Ministry,” confirmed an official from the ASI while refusing to share the details.
Meanwhile, the excavation at the existing site has been restricted between the spaces of two parallel brick walls. “After digging five metres, we may hit the layer of natural soil and then we will stop digging at the site as we are not expecting to get anything after that as our past experiences at the other sites have shown,” the official said.
It has been on the gold hunt at the site after seer Shobhan Sarkar had a dream in which the king told him about the treasure buried under the ruins at the fort. It was at the behest of Union Minister for Food Processing and Agriculture Charan Das Mahant that the Culture Ministry ordered the ASI to undertake the excavation at the identified site.