PATIALA, Feb 12 — Investigation into a bizarre complaint made by the grandson of the Prime Minister of the erstwhile princely state of Patiala claiming that 100 kg of gold worth crores had been looted from his ancestral haveli near here has proved it to be true with the district police set to recover the stolen treasure which has reportedly reached places as far as Mumbai and Guwahati.

The family of the last Prime Minister of the Patiala state Lieut-General Gurdial Singh Harika had been complaining for years about the loot of the gold. The grandson of the late Prime Minister again complained against the demolition of his entire haveli and carting away of five “gagars” containing gold in November to the police station following which investigation into the case started.

The district police has found 15 to 20 wooden frames of the haveli of Harikas and has arrested Joginder Singh, a resident of Bakshiwala village, near here, where the haveli was situated, who is also a relative of the complainant. A case of dacoity has been registered against Joginder Singh and some other persons and he has been arrested. A local court today remanded him into police custody up to February 19.

According to police sources, the gold has been converted into landed property by the accused who has been charged with amassing property, including around 40 acres of land and a large house in the city here besides running a finance business. The sources said they had zeroed in on the man who had buried the treasure in the haveli, the labourers who had discovered it during the demolition of the haveli and the persons who had assisted the accused in selling the gold. The police had information that the gold, which had been sold to local and outside goldsmiths, was now in far-off places, including Mumbai and Guwahati.

Kesar Singh, a ‘sevadar’ of the general, had been the key through whom the story of the hidden treasure had surfaced. They said Kesar Singh had revealed that the general possessed a large amount of gold handed over to him by Muslim refugees migrating to Pakistan after partition. This gold had been given to him for safekeeping but most of it remained largely unclaimed.

Kesar Singh, who is presently 92-year-old and is a resident of Akalgarh village, near Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, revealed that the general later joined the Managing Committee of the Fatehgarh Sahib gurdwara to which he donated 60 kg of gold. When the general fell out with the management he took away the gold with the help of an employee and carried it to the haveli at Bakshiwala. The gold was then buried there along with another 40 kg in the general’s possession.

According to him, the gold was buried in five gagars with two gagars containing gold ‘patras’ and the rest containing gold coins. The general administered the oath of secrecy to him that he would not tell anyone about the treasure. He, however, decided to disclose the secret after a labourer, Bhag Singh, who was involved in the demolition of the haveli, told him after being dismissed by the accused that the treasure had been unearthed. The haveli was demolished in 1996.