The Unnao district authorities finally allowed village representatives to visit the Daundia Kheda gold digging site on Saturday, following protests against alleged secrecy and delay in excavation.
The treasure hunt began 17 days ago, following local seer Shobhan Sarkar's dream that about 1,000 tonnes of gold had been kept hidden under the ruins of the fort of 19th century king Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh after the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.
Ajay Pal Singh, husband of Buxar panchayat chief Sheela Singh and three others visited the site and gave a clean chit to the Archaeological Survey of India. Singh said, "We went to the site and are satisfied with the pace of work being carried out by the ASI."
The ASI, meanwhile, continued digging at the site without any sign of gold as prophesied by the seer. Till Saturday evening, the diggers struck only broken glass bangles, pottery and pieces of rusted iron.