New Delhi: The investigation into donation theft at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has taken a fresh turn. The Supreme Court on Monday (July 27) directed the new Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on its probe so far within two weeks. It has also asked for a forensic auditor to join the team.“All remedial steps to ensure transparency will be taken. We are on a qualitative investigation of the incident,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant directed the SIT, according to a PTI report. “We are focussed on having a fair, speedy, impartial investigation,” the CJI added.The development follows the reconstitution of the SIT after two hearings held on July 13 and July 20 in the Supreme Court where the court first sought a more clear-cut review of the trust’s financial transactions while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said during the later hearing that the SIT was not probing the donation theft at all. Mehta said on July 20 that the probe was in the hands of Uttar Pradesh Police. The SIT only found a cognisable offence was made out in the handling of temple donations, he told the court.Yet it is the SIT that had been reporting to a three-judge Supreme Court bench of the CJI, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana on developments in the case. This includes the reconstituted team as well.The Times of India reports that the court on Monday also directed that the reconstituted SIT include a forensic examiner, which the state of Uttar Pradesh, represented by Mehta, has agreed to do.The new four-member SIT is headed by Inspector General of Police Kiran S. and three others: a Deputy Inspector General-rank officer, a Senior Superintendent of Police and an Additional Superintendent of Police. The forensic auditor (of financial accounts) would become its fifth member.The earlier SIT included Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan Kumar. The senior IPS officers have replaced the civil officers, in line with the Supreme Court’s instructions.These developments follow Mehta informing the Supreme Court on July 20 that the SIT only found out if a cognisable offence was made out. That is when, Live Law reported, CJI Kant asked for the report leading to the FIRs. Mehta responded that the state government would consider whether officials on the SIT could also be involved in the actual criminal investigation, since it had found prima facie evidence of wrongdoing.The CJI said that the SIT official(s) would therefore have “prima facie knowledge knowledge about the case”, as per the report.The new SIT does not have its earlier members who probed the theft allegations from the beginning. It also has no civilian representation. Since a prima facie case has been made out and a police investigation is on based on that finding, it is evident that the police is not the sole authority probing the donation theft case.Earlier on July 13, the Supreme Court said the financial irregularities required investigation by experienced police officers. The trust has been reconstituted with this in mind, but it has no financial forensic auditor, whom the government will now select.Seers back VHP’s Champat Rai, saying ‘rely on SIT probe’Last week, 300 seers in Ayodhya backed Champat Rai, international vice president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), saying he was not involved in the donation theft. Rai is former secretary general of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Nyas, the trust running the temple. He resigned amidst a public outcry over his alleged involvement, which he has denied. He has asserted that the SIT would find him innocent, until which he would remain silent.The seers from temples, akharas and mutths across the state, along with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and VHP functionaries, said Rai’s contribution to the Ram temple movement and its construction mean that he should be reinstated, said media reports.“Ayodhya’s seers and saints do not consider Champat Rai an offender in the entire episode of embezzlement. There could be lack of communication and we, the seers of Ayodhya, are not convinced about his complicity in the case,” a majority of the seers present at the meeting held in Ayodhya on Thursday (July 23) said, reports the New Indian Express.No evidence has directly implicated top trust office-bearers in the theft itself, though supervisory and administrative shortcomings have been highlighted from the preliminary findings stage itself.The seers said that the claims about the donation theft were “false propaganda” spread by some political leaders. They said those who “tarnish the image” of Ayodhya should be boycotted.“When the Supreme Court of India is seized of the matter and the SIT is probing it, any unrestrained campaign should not be there by any section of society before the completion of the investigation,” said Mahant Ramdas of Naka Hanumangarhi temple, TNIE reported.The seers maintained that there should be no attempt to politicise the issue. The CJI also made a similar observation about not politicising the matter during the hearing on July 20.PILs regarding temple in Supreme CourtThe issues over which people have moved the top court to take action in the temple fund theft case has expanded significantly. Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing in one of the four petitions being heard, said during a hearing on July 27 that the SIT must audit the receipts of donations received from across the country for the Ram Mandir construction, Live Law reported on July 27.The CJI said that the SIT will have access to all records [of the temple]. “Let the SIT give its report. We are not closing this. Remedial actions will have to be taken. You can note down some steps which have to be taken to ensure transparency. There are senior officers, a forensic auditor shall be there,” Chief Justice Kant said, as per the report.The Supreme Court also suggested that a former judge be made in charge of the investigation, to which Mehta said the three-judge bench of the CJI, Justice Bagchi and Justice Mohana was already examining the matter, said the report.The CJI also pushed for a “speedy investigation”, saying you [the SIT] must “note down all the facts”. “We are asking them to submit a report to us. The rest we will decide at a later stage,” the CJI reportedly said.A second petitioner, Narendra Kumar Goswami, has demanded an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as an examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of the accounts of the temple trust.A two-person team of petitioners, Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav, has also sought a CBI probe. The Supreme Court asked notices to be issued regarding this demand (raised by several petitioners) to the Union government and the Uttar Pradesh government during the July 13 hearing. A petition filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Sudhakar Singh seeks a forensic audit of the finances of the temple trust. A fourth petition, filed by Hindu Dharma Parishad, seeks a Supreme Court-monitored probe. The Nirmohi Akhara, too, has moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to restructure the temple trust as a public trust.