Daijiworld Media Network - Sullia (SP)

Sullia, Nov 13: The citizens of Subrahmanya caught hold of two of the five thieves, who were trying to exhume  the hidden treasure locally  known as 'Naga Nidhi, ' believed to be guarded by serpents and hence considered to be holy, at midnight on Monday November 10. The two men were later handed over to the police. To the amazement of the curious onlookers, a serpent made its appearance in the bushes where the digging was conducted, in the morning of Tuesday.

Since long, a  bush located by the side of an ant hill  in the agricultural field owned by K T Seetharam where the famour annual 'Kulkunda'  cattle fair takes place, is believed to conceal the 'Naganidhi' buried deep undeer it.  The ant hill here is covered by thorny  bushes, vines etc., A resident from here said, that the presence of the hidden treasure at the place had been confirmed during the 'Ashtamangala', a procedure of divine inquiry, held at Kulkunda Vishnumurthy Daivastana a year back. He also said, that in the past, a proposal to dig out the treasure had been mooted when Kukke Subrhamanya temple was faced with shortage of funds for arranging  community feast. Someone had made an aborted  attempt to extract the treasure two years ago, he added.

At around 1 am on Tuesday, a team of five people arrived at the spot in a Maruti car. They went to the treasure spot and started digging with the help of crowbars, pickaxes and sickles. The locals, who heard the sound, rushed to the spot. Three of the accused ran away in the cover of darkness, to safety.

Around 150 lemons, scented sticks, turmeric powder, vermillion, camphor, knife, hammer,plastic and gunny bags apart and implements used for digging, were recovered from the spot. The policemen confiscatd these materials.

One of the arrested is said to be Kharvi Thankal,  a sorcerer from Kumble Arikkady while the other is his assistant, Samshuddin from Kasargod. A few locals are suspected to be involved with the plan to get hold of the hidden treasure.

Subrahmanya police have registered the case and investigations are on. Sullia circle inspector Lakshman Kumar visited the spot and guided the police.