Skeletal remains of elephant unearthed at Chennapalli Fort

KURNOOL: Excavators have unearthed the skeletal remains of a horse and elephant at Chennampalli Fort. These animals were used by medieval rulers for mobility and fighting wars. Excavations continued for the eighth day on Wednesday with no hope of recovering any treasure from the Chennampalli Fort in Tuggali mandal of Kurnool district. On Tuesday officials recovered some bones of either a horse or a donkey, but on Wednesday officials chanced upon the tusk of an elephant.

Tension mounted as in the afternoon a WhatsApp message flashed pictures of massive wealth found at the fort including gold coins, and a big urn. Several people made phone calls to the district officials to find the veracity of the message. Adoni revenue divisional officer Obulesu admitted that they had recovered a tusk of the elephant. The length of the tusk was said to be one- and-a-half feet. The tusk was in good condition, he said. Apart from these remains, no treasure was said to have been unearthed.

Meanwhile, the unscientific manner with which the excavation was going on at Chennampalli has come in for criticism from various quarters. Some members of the Revenue Department were sarcastic about the whole operation. An officer of the revenue told Deccan Chronicle that Adoni RDO Obulesu who is said to be close to revenue minister K.E. Krishna Murthy enjoys enormous power in the division. His style of functioning has come for review during the previous collector Vijay Mohan had admonished him for his over enthusiasm. He has forgotten his job as RDO at Adoni and donned the role of a treasure pitching firmly at the Chennampalli Fort, his colleagues said.

Since December 13, the RDO has sincerely dedicated himself to unearthing the treasure, an officer said. Giving him company was deputy collector Scuba Reddy. Both of them were said to have studied in the same college and had similar background, it is said.