The lone surviving person who was present when the Ratna Bhandar (treasure house) of Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri was last opened in 1985, Mr Rabi Mishra on Friday raised doubts over the recovery of “duplicate keys” and said there was no duplicate key as far as his knowledge goes.

Mishra said he was present when the Ratna Bhandar had been opened in 1985 and when it was sealed and locked. The then additional district magistrate had then handed over the keys to the collector at that point in time. The keys ought to have been deposited in the government treasury by then collector as per rules, stated Mishra while speaking to a local television channel.

He wondered how all on a sudden “duplicate keys” were found and that too in the record room of the government. The keys are never meant to be kept in the record room, moreover there were no duplicate keys, he said.

It may be noted that on 4 April when the administration opened the Ratna Bhandar for inspection by the ASI for repairs, they could only find the keys to the outer room. The district collector Arvind Agarwal said the keys to the inner room were missing and not deposited in Govt’s treasury.

For two months the keys were missing as reported and a hugely emotive controversy emerged with the Opposition blaming the government of callousness and cover-up.

The state government ordered a judicial probe headed by a retired judge of the HC.

All on a sudden, two days ago, the collector Puri, Mr Agarwal said a cover marked as “keys to the inner Ratna Bhandar, duplicate” was found in the government record room.

The BJP raised questions and suspected a conspiracy and cover-up. It lodged police complaints in police stations across the state as a mark of protest.

On Friday, a delegation of the BJP met DGP Dr R P Sharma and demanded that the police should register a case on the basis of their complaint.

Since on Thursday,the police has not registered a case under various sections to what is clearly made out to be a cognisable offence said the BJP delegation to the DGP.

The BJP demanded that a case be registered against the accused named by them including CM Naveen Patnaik, Puri Collector, chief administrator of the temple, temple managing committee members.

Interestingly, veteran BJD leader Dr Damodar Rout also wondered how there were duplicate keys to the Ratna Bhandar and if so the duplicates would have been made from the original, then where are the original keys, he asked.

He also said the collector has been there in the post for several years now beyond the normal stint of any officer.

Rout also referred to the fact that in 1978 when the Ratna Bhandar was opened , Mr Biswabhusan Harichandan was the law minister and on Friday he is in the BJP. Mr Harichandan should know better, chided Rout.

Reacting to Rout, BJP leader and former minister Biswabhusan Harichandan said, the law minister does not look after the keys, it is the job of the collector and temple administration.

He said in 1978, a report of the then Governor had prompted the government to open the Ratna Bhandar and inspect the ornaments and other valuables kept inside it. But as law minister then, he was not to take care of the keys or keep it.