Panel submits final report of probe into missing keys of Lord Jagannath's treasury

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by retired judge of Orissa High Court Justice Raghubir Dash, who was probing into the missing keys of Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath temple of Puri, has submitted his final report to the state government. Commission secretary K N Panigrahi has handed over the 324-page report of the panel in a sealed cover to a Home Department official on Thursday. 

"I have submitted the report of the commission to Under Secretary P K Dey," Panigrahi said on Friday. Following a state-wide hue and cry over the missing keys of Lord Jagannath's treasury housed inside the 12th-century shrine at Puri, Odisha government had in June ordered a judicial inquiry into it. 

The commission had been asked to examine the sequence of events and circumstances leading to the reported non-availability of the keys and the role, conduct and accountability of individuals or groups or the authorities for the incident. The panel's report is based on the depositions and submissions of five affidavits in this connection. 

Two former administrators of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, who had submitted their affidavits, were also examined as witnesses by the commission. 

Reports about the missing treasury keys surfaced after a team entered the 'Ratna Bhandar' on April 4, 2018, and examined its physical conditions amid tight security, following an order of the Orissa High Court.

(With inputs from agencies.)