Bhubaneswar: BJD leader Damodar Rout on Friday said that only Lord Jagannath could solve the mystery of the ratna bhandar key.

He targeted the BJP for trying to gain political mileage over the controversy.

The BJP is organising a statewide campaign over the issue with a party delegation on Friday meeting the director-general of police.

Rout said: "To my knowledge, ratna bhandar was last opened in 1978. At that time, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan was the law minister. If the bhandar was opened and they had carried out an inspection, being the law minister Biswa Bhusan babu must be having all the information about the key. If they had opened it, they should be able to answer where the key is now."

Rout said: "The appearance of the duplicate key has created suspicion in public mind. If there was a duplicate key, why was no one aware and able to locate it? All these things will definitely create doubts in people's mind. Only Lord Jagannath can solve this mystery!"

Hitting hard at Rout, Harichandan said: "Being a former minister, he must be aware of the law. It's not the responsibility of a minister to keep the key, rather it's the responsibility of the administrator. Here in this case, the temple administration and the district collector are responsible for the safe custody of the key."

The issue has turned more complicated with the former deputy administrator of the temple, Rabindra Mishra, saying that there was no duplicate key of the ratna bhandar.

The BJP delegation met director-general of police R.P. Sharma and asked him to exercise the special powers conferred on him by the CrPC to direct the Puri police superintendent to accept the party's FIR on the ratna bhandar issue.

State BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty said: "Under the leadership of lawyer Pitambar Acharya, we met the DGP and apprised him of various sections under the CrPC under which he can exercise his powers in this regard. The DGP has assured us of looking into the issue. He has also directed the IG (central range) to follow up the case."