<h1>CBI closure report finds audit firm violated SEBI audit circulars; insufficient evidence of criminal intent or trading manipulation</h1> A special court accepted a CBI closure report in an offshoot of the NSE co-location investigation involving a firm founded by a former police commissioner that audited two brokers. The CBI found violations of SEBI audit circulars by the auditing firm and concluded the brokers planned to evade third-party audits, but said there was insufficient material to establish criminal intent or prosecutable evidence of trading-system compromise or market-manipulation. The agency found no complicity by NSE or SEBI officials, cited gaps in NSE's verification and enforcement of SEBI guidelines, noted evidentiary limitations from missing contemporaneous records, and recommended SEBI strengthen and implement safeguards.