Archaeologists have begun excavating an abandoned
palace in northern India after a Hindu holy man claimed he dreamed 1,000
tonnes of gold were buried underneath it.
Barricades were put up to control the crowd who gathered at the site where a 12-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is carrying out the excavation.
ASI deputy director PK Mishra said the team began excavating on the basis of findings from the Geological Survey of India that suggested gold or silver could be buried under the palace.
Deepak Chaudhary, a supervisor at the dig, said drilling machines "had hit something that seemed different from earth" around 66ft underground.
He told India Today: "We can establish it's the treasure only after we dig that deep."
Swami Shobhan Sarkar said he was worried about the "collapsing economy of India" and had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Reserve Bank of India about the "treasure".
He told the Mail Today: "I cried the day I realised that India is going to collapse economically.
"The spirit of the king still roams around the palace and has pleaded with me to liberate it by digging out 1,000 tonnes of gold buried beneath his palace."
India's economy has been slowing sharply under the weight of high interest rates and weakening consumer demand.
The excavation is expected to take a month to complete.