Archaeologists on Friday began digging for a treasure of 1,000 tonnes of gold supposed to be buried under the ruins of a 19th-century fort on the basis of a sadhu's dream.
Watched by hundreds of onlookers, the excavation was being carried out amid tight security at the fort of former king Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh in Unnao's Daudiakala village in Uttar Pradesh by a 12-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) led by its Deputy Director P K Mishra.
The gold rush was triggered after a sadhu, Shoban Sarkar, claimed the raja had appeared to him in a dream and told him 1,000 tonnes lay buried in its ruins.
The Raja, hanged in 1858 after rising up against the Britishers, appeared in the dream and told him to take care of the gold, said Swami Omji, a follower of Sarkar. Mishra told reporters the ASI had begun excavation on the basis of the findings of a report by Geological Survey of India (GSI).
To a query whether the decision for excavation was taken on the basis of the dream, he said, "a report by the GSI suggested there may be gold or silver there. On the basis of findings of the report we have started the excavation."
But the excavation was mocked at, with Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi leading the charge.
"The whole world is laughing at us over this bizarre exercise."
