The police try to find out what happened or what is the truth / what the truth

[Tan Elaine]

The police try to find out what happened or what is the truth.
The police try to find out what happened or what the truth is.

Which is the correct sentence? Could you explain why?

Thanks.

 

[bhaisahab]

The police try to find out what happened or what is the truth.
The police try to find out what happened or what the truth is.

Which is the correct sentence? Could you explain why?

Thanks.

The second one is correct. The word order "what is the truth" sounds like a question and makes the whole sentence sound unnatural.

 

[emsr2d2]

It would, of course, be a lot simpler to say "The police tried to find out the truth and/or what actually happened".