Bhubaneswar: On a day the state government 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 (treasury), one of the servitors of the temple added a twist to the tale.

Servitor Manoranjan Sighari claimed that he was present on the day in 1985 when the keys of the inner chamber was handed over to the district administration in Puri. Sighari said: "I was a witness when the keys were handed over to the then collector Nityananda Mohapatra after the inspection of the ratna bhandar in 1985. The 25-inch key made of brass must be somewhere in the treasury."

The probe order, however, has done little to comfort the feeling of the devotees of Lord Jagannath. The political parties have also found a tool to embarrass the state government. Leading the protest, the Jagannath Sena on Wednesday held a demonstration outside the temple demanding a CBI inquiry into the incident.

"We have seen the outcome of various judicial commissions set up on different occasions. The fate of the newly constituted commission will be no different," a Sena activist said.

Former law minister and senior BJP leader Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said: "Steps should be taken to open up the ratna bhandar and there should be a proper inventory of the ornaments. The state government is unnecessarily hushing up the matter."

Cuttack lawyer Dilip Mohapatra filed a PIL in the high court seeking a CBI probe into the disappearance of the keys. The state government, Centre, CBI and the RBI have been made parties in the PIL. The plea has also sought setting up of a special committee to oversee the probe concerning the missing keys.

The PIL has questioned why the temple administration did not follow the high court's order. It also questions the temple administration's statement given on April 4 about the assessment of the treasury's inner chamber.