Bhubaneswar/Puri: According the source of Zeenews the keys of a vital treasury chamber Ratna Bhandar of 12-century Jagannath Temple have reportedly gone missing. In the midst of protests by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the Bharatiya Janata Party, state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday ordered a judicial investigation into the matter.

Worth mention here the case of the missing keys of the inner chambers came in to light two months ago, on April 4 in the period of a meeting of the Sri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee.

After 34 years, a 16-member team had entered the Ratna Bhandar on April 4 to look over the physical conditions amid tight security following an order of the Orissa High Court, Ramchandra Das Mahapatra told PTI. The court, monitoring the repair works undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India in the holy place since 2016, had ordered the ASI to inspect the structural stability and safety of the Ratna Bhandar.

On the other hand, the team could not cross the threshold of the inner chambers due to missing of keys and inspected the condition through an iron grill from exterior with the help of search lights.

On a related note the seven chambers of the Ratna Bhandar, the first two are outer chambers which are used from time to time, and the others are called inner chambers.

According to reports neither the temple administration nor the Puri district treasury has the key of the inner treasury, asserted Mahapatra.

Both the Shankaracharya of Puri and the BJP have sought a clarification from Odisha Chief Minister on the matter.

Meanwhile Activists of groups such as the Jagannath Sena and the Sachetana Nagarik Manch protested near the Shree Jagannath temple in Puri.