Puri: An underground room was found at Emar Mutt near Srimandir here during the razing of the 12th-century monastery Thursday.
The underground room has six chambers. The finding of the secret underground chambers sparked curiosity among the locals as hundreds of people gathered at the spot to witness the spectacle.
While it is stated that the chambers might have been used for storing purposes, many onlookers believed that it could be holding hidden treasure. It may be noted that around 522 British-era silver ingots weighing over 18 tonnes were discovered from the mutt in 2011.
“There must be hidden treasure along with large quantities of valuables in these secret chambers,” said a local.
Mutt sources, however, claimed that the underground building was serving as the ‘kothi ghara’ (store room) of the monastery and had helped people meet food grain demands during precarious times in the past like the Orissa Famine of 1866.
It is believed that since the mutt is quite old, the underground chambers also must have been hundreds of years old as large number of rats and bats were also spotted by members of snake helpline who first took stock of the hidden rooms.
A member of Snake Helpline said the underground building was 50 ft long and 12 ft dip. “The building might be used to store food grains,” he said.
Sources, meanwhile, claimed that an underground tunnel was also found at the mutt during the demolition drive. However, officials of the district administration rejected the report.
“An underground room was found during the demolition of Emar Mutt. The room was serving as granary. Our officials did not find any underground tunnel at the site. The demolition work will continue Friday,” said additional Collector Binay Kumar Dash.
Revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) Anil Kumar Samal Thursday visited the demolition site. “The eviction drive is going on properly and the district administration has taken steps to rehabilitate the evicted people,” Samal said.