Overview
- The Uttar Pradesh government reconstituted the Special Investigation Team on July 25, appointing IG Kiran S to lead a three- to four-member IPS panel that replaces the earlier civil-officer team.
- The Supreme Court ordered a forensic auditor be added to the SIT, granted the team access to all records, and directed it to file a status report to the court within two weeks.
- A preliminary state SIT report and police work had earlier identified about 70 CCTV-captured incidents of cash being hidden during counting, which prompted an FIR, eight arrests and recoveries of cash, vehicles and financial documents.
- Petitioners in the Supreme Court are pressing for broader independent audits by agencies such as the CBI or the CAG and for steps to publish donation records to restore transparency for small donors.
- With the apex court monitoring the probe, the investigation now blends police criminal work with forensic accounting, a change that could produce quicker asset tracing, strengthen evidence for prosecutions and shape remedial steps for the Trust and bank safeguards.