The Treasure trove you sit on is not yours

HYDERABAD: How would you feel if in your own house, a treasure trove was found hidden in a wall? And, you had never known about it even though you grew up there? Worse, you vacated it and signed a contract for demolishing it and the workers scooted off with the treasure worth about Rs 7 crore?

Unimaginable! Such is the state of Kandukuri Satish Gupta, an IT professional, whose middle-class family had stayed in an old house in Doodhbowli for nearly half a century.

Now, a few weeks back, he had it demolished and surprise, the workers disappeared with a treasure found in a wall.

Police have caught some of them and recovered some gold and silver coins and ornaments. But that doesn't help. Does it?

'It was shocking for us when a few scribes came to us to enquire about the treasure. We did not know whether the treasure belonged to our family,' recalls Gupta, who is also known as Satish Kumar. He came to know of the treasure through the media.

'My grandfather was a money-lender and people used to mortgage gold with him. He had died of a heart attack leaving my grandmother paralysed. She too died later and my parents didn't have a clue,' says Gupta.

Both Gupta and his neighbours confirm that there has long been a rumour that treasures were hidden in the locality. According to Gupta, the stories about treasure in the walls and underground have been very common in the area.

'We had always thought such stories to be rumours. I would have found out the treasure myself if I ever believed such stories!' rues Gupta, at whose house a group of workers stumbled upon gold and silver coins and ornaments worth Rs 5-7 crore and which police think date back to the Mughal and Nizam eras.

So, what is he going to do now? 'Had I found the treasure, I would have informed government authorities first. We are all educated people. Our first duty should be to inform government,' agrees Gupta, who doesn't know if he is entitled to a share in the treasure found in his property.

However, having learnt about the legal provision, he does not want to leave anything to fate.

'I am in talks with my lawyer about the possibility for a claim as the treasure was found in my property. Since the whole government process is still going on, I cannot say anything more,' he reveals.

Satish's home in Doodhbowli was being demolished before Dasara for construction of a new one. Currently, the works have been stalled at the place.