(UPI) -- Archaeologists have begun digging for treasure beneath the fort of King Rao Ram Baksh Singh in India after Hindu swami Shobhan Sarkar said the king’s spirit told him about the bounty during a dream.
Sarkar said the former king appeared in his dreams and told him to take care of a 1,000-ton treasure buried under the fort. King Rao Ram Baksh Singh was hanged in 1858 after rising up against British colonial forces.
Indian archaeological officials surveyed the area and discovered evidence of heavy metal buried about 66 feet underground. According to District Magistrate Vijay Karan Anand, the only way to determine what type of metal is buried is to dig it up.
Interested parties are already lining up to stake their claims to the treasure, which would most likely be gold and silver. “If gold is really found there, we should get our share," said Navchandi Veer Pratap Singh, one of the king's descendants.
Officials from the Archaeological Survey of India are denying that the dig is based on what Sarkar saw in his dreams.
"Archaeology doesn't work according to the dreams of a holy man, or anybody else. Archaeology is a science. We are carrying out this excavation on the basis of our findings," agency official Syed Jamal Hasan said.
Thousands of people have swarmed the area in the hopes of getting a piece of the treasure.