Temple keys found, Puri collector says its Lord's "miracle"

"Duplicate keys" of the Puri Jagannath temple's treasury have been found, with Puri Collector Aravind Agarwal calling the recovery a "miracle" of the Lord.

Opposition political parties, however, sought to know as to what happened to the original keys.

The Puri district administration, which came to know on April 4 that the keys of the temple treasury's inner chambers were missing, stumbled upon a brown sealed envelop containing the duplicate keys yesterday.

Four personnel, who were looking for the keys, found the brown envelope with "Duplicate keys of Ratna Bhandar" written on it, Agarwal told reporters.

"The envelop was found in the locker of the district record room after five days of search, though the temple records said the keys had been kept in district treasury," he said.

"It is a miracle. All of us engaged in the search felt the presence of the Lord yesterday. Having failed to get the keys despite frantic search, I had completely surrendered before the Lord seeking his blessings," the 2007 batch IAS officer said.

Meanwhile, opposition BJP stepped up attack on the BJD government holding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, an officer in the Chief Minister's Office, the Puri district collector and newly appointed Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator P K Mohapatra responsible for the key episode.

"All these people have been misleading the public. One day the collector says keys are missing and now he says that duplicate keys are found. Where is the original key? How did the key got into the record room?" asked BJP state spokesman Pitambar Acharya at a press meet here.

Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra also demanded action against the Puri collector, saying, "Nobody knows duplicate keys of Ratna Bhandar ever existed."
On these allegations, Agarwal said, "I thank Lord Jagannath for the recovery of the keys. I am working with all dedication and I am also open to any inquiry."