Lucknow, October 29
Local seer Shobhan Sarkar’s dream about 1,000 tons of gold buried in the depths of the historic fort at Daudikalan village in Unnao had become a nightmare for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Finally, excavation was abandoned today after 11 days of high drama which caught international attention. As the misadventure had become increasingly difficult to explain due to media hype, better sense appears to have been prevailed.

Hitting a virtual dead-end, the ASI has stopped the excavation being carried out at the Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh fort by a 12-member team since October 18.

Speaking to a news channel, ASI Director Syed Jamal confirmed calling off the Unnao excavation. He said that the digging had brought forth no precious metal.

The little-known fort hit international headlines after the ASI started digging on the basis of a dream by local seer Sarkar. He had seen the martyred king beckoning him to unearth the 1000-ton gold treasure and free the country of its economic crisis.

Strangely, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industry Charan Das Mahant was so influenced by the seer’s story that he persuaded the ASI and Geological Survey of India (GSI) to conduct a survey.

Both these prestigious organisations now have a lot of mud on their faces. The ASI and GSI teams had drilled two holes at the points indicated by the mystic. The ASI team has now dug to the bedrock and found nothing except pieces of pottery, bangles and a section of a wall.