The Emar Mutt. Picture by Sarat Patra

Puri, April 3: The newly formed management committee of the Emar Mutt here has expressed its dissatisfaction over the probe carried out by police to unearth the treasure trove.

“The police should inform us before conducting any sort of search on the mutt premises. We will soon write a letter to the director general of police and the superintendent of police on this issue. We are ready to cooperate, but they should take us into confidence,” said committee spokesperson Bijay Ramanuja Das.

After the Emar Mutt mahanta Rajgopal Ramanuj Das had been suspended following his arrest for theft of silver bricks, the government has constituted a five-member committee comprising the mahantas of various mutts and representatives of the state endowment commission. The panel has already put up a notice in front of the mutt stating that it would now function under the newly formed committee.

Das said the panel had already appealed to the panel to do the inventory of the mutt shortly. “Only through a proper inventory of the mutt, its properties can be ascertained. It’s likely to start in the coming week,” he said.

Das further said the panel would ask police to give a copy of seizure list. “Only after receiving the seizure list, we will be able to know the mutt’s business transaction. Steps are being taken so that there would be no irregularities in performing rituals in the mutt,” he said.

Police has brought the former mahanta on a three-day remand from the judicial custody for interrogation. “The investigation is moving on the right direction. We have already taken the mahanta to the mutt premises and tried to locate whether any more sliver bricks are stacked in any room,” said a police officer.

Police got a tip-off about the treasure trove after it had arrested two labourers Barun Nayak and Akshya Nayak on February 25 from Dhenkanal on charges of stealing silver bricks worth Rs 26 lakh. Later on February 26, Puri police raided the Emar Mutt and unearthed 522 sliver bricks each weighing nearly 35kg to 38kg. All silver brick weighed around 18 tonne 530 gram. Later, police seized 3.40 quintal of silver ingots worth Rs 3 crore, two four wheelers and one motorcycle.

All these bricks had been stacked in four big boxes (wooden chaste) placed in a dilapidated and closed room. However, an empty box found on the mutt premises led police to believe that a racket had been operating from the mutt and the bricks had been stolen away.

Police suspected that huge property had already been sent outside the state.