Puri: The alleged missing key conspiracy of the Jagannath Temple's Ratna Bhandar will be exposed soon, said Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan today.

"The riddle of missing key started during the period of the previous government. It is yet to be ascertained whether the collector or the government was responsible for the enigma. We will take steps very soon to expose those who had conspired not to open the Ratna Bhandar claiming that the keys were missing," Harichandan told reporters.

"Action will be taken against them if they are found guilty of plotting the missing key conspiracy," he said.

He revealed that locks were not sealed at the Ratna Bhandar when the committee members opened the door.

"There were three locks at Ratna Bhandar, of which two had no seal. This was informed by the SJTA Chief and Ratna Bhandar probe committee chairperson. By the grace of Lord Jagannath, the Ratna Bhandar was opened. However, those who have played with the Jagannath culture and spread lies about keys showing one duplicate key, will surely face a tough time in the upcoming days," he said.

The treasury of Lord Jagannath was opened on July 14 after a gap of 4 decades. In the first phase, the valuables stored at outer chamber of Ratna Bhandar were shifted to a strong room. Three days later i.e. on July 18, an 11-member team including SJTA Chief Administrator Arabinda Padhee and probe committee head Justice Biswanath Rath reopened the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar and safely transferred the valuables to another strong room for repair of the structure.

According to reports, the Ratna Bhandar door was closed with three locks. The team members had two keys provided by the district administration. However, the door could not be unlocked with those keys. Therefore, the team opened the door by breaking the locks as per the SOP.

After entering the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar, the team members reportedly found some chests and almirahs were not locked.

Report said that the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar was last opened in 1978 and inventory of valuables was completed in more than 70 days. However, the duplicate key allegation, unlocked almirahs and chests raised suspicion among devotees of Lord Jagannath.