Bhubaneswar: The state government on Wednesday appointed retired judge of Orissa High Court Justice Raghubir Das as chairman of the commission of inquiry to probe into the case of missing keys of the inner chamber of the ratna bhandar, the treasury of Lord Jagannath.

The inquiry commission has been asked to submit the report within three months. The commission will find out how the keys went missing from the district treasury and who were the people responsible for it.

According to norms, after inspection of the ratna bhandar, the keys are kept in the government treasury. That the keys were missing came to light when an expert team on April 4 went to assess structural damage to the inner chamber but could not enter it.

The temple administration, however, remained silent on the issue for the last two months before it snowballed into a major controversy threatening to sully the image of the state government on the sensitive issue.

Justice Das said: "I am yet to get the terms of reference. However, I can assure you that the inquiry will be impartial." Puri collector Arvind Agrawal, who is under fire for not initiating any steps to trace out the keys, on Wednesday said: "The issue of missing keys should be resolved. We will co-operate with the commission."