The news about a treasure trove worth of crores of rupees is located in the premises of Vidyaranya School situated opposite AP Secretariat in Hyderabad is creating a lot of sensation for the past four days. It all began with one Mr. Sitarama Raju approaching the state archaeological officials, over an year ago. For reasons unknown, the authorities kept quite on the information all these days and started exploring the site now.

The excavations that started on Saturday to trace the treasure have so far not yielded any indications that there exists a tunnel in which, according to Sitarama Raju, he spotted the treasure. After digging here and there for three days, the state archaeology officials expressed their inability in tracing the trove and sought help of experts from the National Minieral Development Corporation (NMDC). The experts of NMDC on Tuesday began a preliminary survey in the premises of Vidyaranya School that allegedly houses a hidden tunnel having a treasure trove. The area is being mapped and preliminary work may go on for two or three days, an NMDC official said.

The site has been made off limits for curious passersby and a posse of policemen deployed as a precautionary measure to keep off potential jewel thieves. Currently, Archeology, Revenue and Police department have taken up the responsibility of safety and security of the site. The premises, Vidyaranya School belongs to the erstwhile Wanaparthi Samsthan of Mahboobnagar district. Senior citizens, who know well about the Sansthan say that the possibility of a treasure lying in the premises can not be ruled out.

People also expressed doubts on the integrity of the officials of archaeology department. They ask, why the authorities have been keeping quite for over an year and now started exploring. Some even say that there might be some nexus between the treasures finders, Sitarama Raju and another person, a mason and the officials. After reaching to an understanding, now the work of exploration has been taken up, they say.

However, P Anuradha Reddy, INTACH, Hyderabad convenor and a descendant of the Wanaparthi Samsthan which owns the property, says that she doesn't believe that there is any treasure hidden in the premises. She said that she had had a talk with D Sitarama Raju, one of the petitioners who approached the Archeology department seeking an excavation at the site. "He claims to have seen the treasure a year ago and that he has come out with a petition now in national interest. Didn’t he realise it was in national interest a year ago?," she wondered.

According to her, Sitarama Raju had visited the school a year ago as a parent and tried his best to find the treasure. "He himself told me that he had used a gas cutter to open a steel Alwyn almirah in the tunnel," she explained. Affirming her doubts, city-based historian Sajjad Shahid. "There is little evidence in history to show that a treasure was hidden underneath Naubat Pahad. Moreover, Alwyn almirahs were not in existence prior to 1930."