July 15th 2024.
The government of Odisha has announced that they will be launching an investigation into why the duplicate keys for the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of the famous Jagannath temple in Puri, were unable to open the locks on July 14th. This comes after the Ratna Bhandar was reopened for the first time in 46 years for an inventory of its valuables and repairs to its structure.
The attempt to open the three locks on the doors of the inner chamber was made by a special committee, but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. According to Arabinda Padhee, the chief administrator of the Jagannath temple, the two duplicate keys that were in the possession of the Puri district administration were unable to open the locks. In response to this, Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan stated that the previous government had spread false information about the availability of duplicate keys and that this matter would be thoroughly investigated.
Harichandan, who is in charge of the Jagannath temple under the state government's law department, also mentioned that they will be looking into who had claimed that duplicate keys were available and who had instructed them to do so. The attempt to open the Ratna Bhandar in April 2018 was also unsuccessful due to the unavailability of keys, but the government later announced that duplicate keys had been found.
The minister also made it clear that anyone who had tampered with the ornaments of Lord Jagannath would face consequences. He also expressed hope that such an incident had not occurred and that a clearer picture would emerge once the inventory was completed. The reopening of the Ratna Bhandar was a hot topic during the recent assembly elections, where the BJP came to power, ending the BJD's 20-year rule.
In response to the government's announcement of an investigation, BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy has demanded that the report of the Justice Raghubir Das Commission, formed to investigate the missing keys, be made public. He also urged the government to present a clear picture to the public about the keys of the 12th-century shrine.
The commission was formed in 2018 to look into the circumstances surrounding the missing keys and submitted its report to the state government in November of the same year. However, the report was not made public. The Congress and BJD, opposition parties, have also called on the BJP government to provide clarity on the issue of the Ratna Bhandar keys. The Congress spokesperson, Biswaranjan Mohanty, stated that the people are eagerly waiting to know the truth about the original keys and urged the government to present a clear picture.
As the three locks could not be opened using the duplicate keys, the special committee followed standard procedure and broke the locks in the presence of a magistrate to enter the inner chamber. The Ratna Bhandar, which is located in the basement of the temple, has two parts - the outer chamber which holds ornaments used by the deities on a daily basis, and the inner chamber which houses many valuable pieces of jewellery.
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