Overview
- A government Special Investigation Team’s preliminary report submitted on June 23 identifies Avinash Shukla as the prime accused and lists six people with prima facie involvement based on CCTV, recoveries and bank records.
- Police have arrested eight people so far and reported recoveries of roughly Rs 79 lakh plus significant assets seized from Shukla including cash, foreign currency, jewellery and an SUV.
- The SIT documented about 70 suspected theft or pilferage incidents in CCTV footage from April 27 to June 5 and found failures in frisking, biometric checks, CCTV monitoring and supervision that investigators say enabled repeated removal of cash.
- Trust leaders accepted resignations in early July and insist donated gold and silver are accounted for, while former general secretary Champat Rai disputes the SIT findings and blames bank-approved procedures.
- Investigators have ordered a re-audit of five years of Trust accounts and are widening the probe to potentially name former trustee Anil Mishra and some bank employees, with the SIT preparing a final report in the coming weeks.