Bhilwara: The large deg (pot) that was dug out by police and civil administration from grazing land near Sidda village in Tonk district Saturday evening was found to contain only soil, police said Monday.The sealed pot, which was secured for assessment by an archaeology department team, was examined in Niwai on Monday in the presence of police, archaeology department and administrative officials. Contrary to expectations that the pot contained antiques, the deg was found ful of soil, Tonk SP Rajesh Kumar Meena said.Meanwhile, a police team formed to investigate the incident detained two young men suspected of carrying out ‘antique’ frauds in other places. Meena said, “Where the pot was found, rose flowers were scattered on the ground. We suspected some tantra-mantra practice and a police team was formed to investigate. On Monday, the team detained on suspicion 32-year-old Mukesh Meena and 24-year-old Abhishek Meena from Sidda village where the pot was found. Whether they are linked to the present incident is under investigation. However, they are suspected to have carried out similar frauds to cheat innocent people in other places.”Police said they found brass metal-like objects in the pockets of both detained men, which suggest that they used them to con people into believing that they could find treasure buried in the ground. Niwai tehsildar Naresh Gurjar said that on Saturday evening, some residents of Sidda village saw fresh rose petals scattered and a pair of slippers on grazing land. Upon receiving information, police and administrative officials carried out excavation with a JCB machine. A large deg (pot) emerged, weighing 100-150 kg, which was taken into custody by revenue officials. On Monday, an archaelogy dept team from Jaipur under superintendent Neeraj Tripathi arrived in Niwai and opened the sealed pot in the sub-treasury office, Gurjar said.
