
The keys of the 12th century Jagannath Temple's treasury chamber Ratna Bhandar in Odisha have reportedly gone missing.
The state chief minister Naveen Patnaik has ordéred a judicial probe into the matter after protests by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The case of the missing keys of the inner chamber surfaced two months ago on April 4 at the meeting of the Sri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee.
On the ordersof the Orissa High Court, a 16 member team had entered the Ratna Bhandar on April 4 to investigate the physical conditions in tight security.
The court is monitoring the repair works undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India in the shrine since 2016.
The court had ordered the ASI to examine the structural stability and safety of the Ratna Bhandar. The team, however, could not reach the inner chambers of the Bhandar due to unavailability of keys.
The Mahapatra has claimed that neither the temple administration nor the Puri district treasury has the key of the inner treasury.