Supreme Court confirms ‘cash found’ at Delhi HC Judge Yashwant Varma’s house

Video released after the fire incident shows piles of burnt cash at the residence of Justice Varma. Pic/PTI

A video shared by the police commissioner of burnt wads of cash at Justice Yashwant Varma's residence and preliminary findings of the Delhi High Court chief justice calling for a "deeper probe" have prompted Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna to constitute a committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations against the judge.

In an unprecedented move, the top court, late on Saturday evening, uploaded on its website the inquiry report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya - complete with photos and videos - regarding the alleged discovery of a substantial amount of cash from the residence of Justice Varma, a judge in the high court.

Justice Yashwant Varma. File pic

The 25-page inquiry report of Justice Upadhyaya, uploaded on the apex court's website, contains two short notes in Hindi that mention that after the fire at the storeroom of Justice Varma's residence on March 14 was doused, four to five half-burnt sacks containing currency notes were found. The report said prima facie, it seemed that a short-circuit had led to the fire. The video, also shared by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora with Justice Upadhyaya, clearly shows burnt cash and firefighters dousing the flames.

CJI forms panel

The three-member inquiry committee formed by the CJI consists of Justices Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), G S Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court) and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman.

"The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Mr Justice Yashwant Varma," the top court said in a statement on Saturday. However, no timeline has been fixed for the committee to conclude the probe.

‘Conspiracy to frame'

Justice Varma has, in his response, strongly denounced the allegations in the currency-discovery row and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members. In his response submitted to the Delhi High Court chief justice, Justice Varma has said the allegation of cash discovery from his residence clearly appears to be a conspiracy to frame and malign him.

"It was during our meeting at the High Court Guesthouse that I was first shown the video and other photographs, which had been shared with you by the Commissioner of Police. I was totally shocked to see the contents of the video since it depicted something which was not found on site as I had seen it," Justice Varma said.

"It was this which prompted me to observe that this clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign me," said Justice Varma. "Neither I nor any of my family members had any knowledge of cash nor does it have any bearing or relation with me or my family," he added.

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