In October, 1827, he attached to the report of the Commission the following resolution: "It is absolutely necessary to find out who those unfortunate children were; this ought to be easy if the whole thing is not a miserable lie." His belief in the guilt of the Jews had evidently been shaken.
In its endeavors to make up for the lack of substantial evidence, the commission, personified by Khovanski, put itself in communication with the governors of the Pale, directing them to obtain information concerning all local ritual murder cases in past years.

The effect of these inquiries was to revive the Grodno affair of 1818 which had been "left to oblivion." A certain convert by the name of Gradlnski from the townlet of Bobovnya, in the government of Minsk, declared before the Commission of Inquiry that he was ready to point out the description of the ritual murder ceremony in a "secret" Hebrew work.

When the book was produced and the incriminated passage translated, it was found that it referred to the Jewish rite of slaughtering animals.

The apostate, thus caught red-handed, confessed that he had turned informer in the hope of making money, and was by imperial command sent into the army.

The confidence of St.Petersburg in the activity of the Velizh Commission of Inquiry vanished more and more.