The issue of how the treasure digging took place in the Wandurawa area of Veyangoda, near the Central Expressway, has arisen. This comes after Attanagalla Magistrate Manjula Karunaratne stated today that no order was issued to dig up the treasure.
Judge Manjula Karunaratne said in open court that the order was only to investigate the metallic materials found in the soil based on the report given by the Police Special Task Force regarding the excavation at that location.
The judge said this when the facts regarding the excavation were reported to the court today.
Meanwhile, at the cabinet press conference held today, Cabinet Media Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said that the Veyangoda treasure diging was carried out on a court order and not on a government decision.
He said that the Department of Archaeology had also stated on several occasions that there was no treasure at that place.
Commenting on this, Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Peradeniya Athula Senaratne said that he was surprised by the treasure diging with state sponsorship.
‘It is unbelievable to me that something like this would be done with state sponsorship. As someone who has been working in the field of geology for 40 years, I have often told people not to go behind these things because these are myths. There is no need for state sponsorship for these things. It is inconceivable that such an idea could arise,’ he said.
”In the past, people may or may not have had objects of worship in the relic chambers and temples. But there was no technology then to dig 40 to 50 feet of rock and place treasures there, boil the rock, or glue the rock. There is no such technology today either. I am saying this as someone with forty years of experience in geology,” he added.