A large number of items including cutlery, valuable flower vases and wall-mounted decorations and paintings worth several lakhs of rupees had gone missing from a ministry soon after the recent portfolio change.

Employees responsible for the missing items wonder whether the outgoing purohita had removed them along with his personal effects. They fear the prospect of having to answer audit queries come the next annual inspection, but dread inquiring about the matter directly from the purohita either, they say.