Centre orders huge treasure hunt, after sadhu dreams of 1,000 tonnes gold

Lucknow: A sadhu's dream has made the government pass an order to dig up an old fort in Daundiya Kheda village of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh.The sadhu's name is Shobhan Sarkar. He has a considerable following in the nearby areas of Unnao in UP. Sources said, the sadhu Shobhan Sarkar saw in his "dreams" that 1,000 tonnes of gold was buried in the remains of the fort of Raja Rao Ram Bux. In his dream, the sadhu says, Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh asked him to take care of the gold.Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh was martyred in 1857 during a fight with British rulers during the sepoy mutiny.Sarkar's dream was not taken seriously by the local administration and the state government. When Shobhan Sarkar heard that the government was contemplating taking custody of the gold in various temples, he approached one of his priests, who was a regular visitor to Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Charan Das Mahant. This priest informed the union minister that Shobhan Sarkaar wants to meet him. The Union Minister met Shobhan Sarkar, visited the Fort on his request and requested thegovernment to take steps to discover if the gold really lies inside the Fort."Since then several teams of the Geological Survey of India and the ASI are working on it,” he added.The digging work may start from October 18. But the question that arises is: from where did such a huge amount of gold reserve came, and who was of Raja Rao Ram Bux.As per locals, Raja Rao Ram Bux's fort used to be a hiding point for many kings and they kept their reserves at the fort in order to save it from reaching the hands of East India Company officials. Locals also claim that they did come across some gold coins several times in the surroundings of the fort.Raja Ram Bakhsh Singh of Biaswara, according to the Unnao district administration website, was the raja of Daundia Khera, who took an active part in the 1857 freedom struggle and was later hanged by the British on December 28, 1858, from a tree near a temple, which was blown up by East India Company officials. The ruins of the temple and several broken images are still found in the village of Baksar, the southernmost village of the district.Baksar lies on the left bank of the Ganga, about 5 km south of Daundia Khera and 51 km south-east of Unnao. Legend has it that the name Baksar was derived from the Sanskrit word Bakasram denoting the residence of Baka, a rakshas, who founded a town at the site of the present village. He lived here and erected a temple to Nageshwar Nath Mahadeo. Baka is said to have been killed by Lord Krishna.