As many as 93 ancient gold coins were found while digging the ground to build a toilet in the backyard of a house in Haradanahalli village in the taluk on Monday.
One of the coins belongs to Haider Ali’s era, and it is said to have a picture of Shiva and Parvathi sculpted on one side and a picture of Haider Ali sculpted on the other side. The remaining 92 coins are said to have originated in the Thanjavur Maratha’s era.
The house behind the village’s Venugopalswamy Temple, where the coins were found, belongs to Siddiq. Workers Kumar, Nanjunda, Suresh and Sundar, found 43 coins while digging the ground, said the police. Siddiq’s daughter Nadiya then saw the workers pocketing the coins. They bribed her with eight coins to make sure she kept silent, the police added. They were caught when they tried to sell them in a jewellery shop in Chamarajanagar town, and the shopkeeper called the police.
A team from the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, Mysuru, led by Deputy Director Gangadhara, examined the backyard of Siddiq’s house. As many as 50 more coins were found in the soil that was removed from the ground, the police said.
Gangadhara said there were houses around the place were the gold was found. He added that if they had to investigate, it would disturb the houses. The gold is now under the care of the department.