NEW DELHI: The "Peepli Live" moment of Daundia Kheda in UP’s Unnao district is finally over and so is the hope of unearthing 1,000 tonnes of gold . On Thursday, the Archaeological Survey of India ( ASI ) formally stopped the excavation after archaeologists involved in the digging of second trench raised their hand in despair.Gold that local godman Shobhan Sarkar in close association with Congress had dreamed of is nowhere in sight or for that matter any metal.The first trench had already proved to be a dud. All ASI could discover are few glass bangles, iron nails, hopscotch, fragmentary miniature stone figure of lion, terracotta arecanut shaped beads, two hearths and three burnt brick walls. The second trench has not revealed anything substantial. “Every one associated with the excavation has lost interest. There is nothing except soil in the second trench,” a senior ASI official said.The excavation was recommended by Sarkar’s disciple Charan Das Mahant , minister of state in the Union Cabinet.Unnao district administration had also told ASI that it can no longer spare police and other security personnel for so long. The district magistrate had said police is needed for Muharram and Kartik Purnima fair in Unnao. ASI officials admit that the excavation was doomed right from the beginning.For instance, so much was made out about the Geological Survey of India (GSI) report regarding the existence of metal in Daundia Kheda. “We never use GSI report. It is not even known who ordered GSI report, who prepared it and who tampered with it later. It is only the ASI whose reputation has been damaged,” a senior ASI official said. He also said Unnao experience should become a lifetime lesson for the ASI.“There is no shortcut to professional archaeology. ASI will never carry out excavation to fulfil someone’s dream,” he added.