The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash occurred when a fire broke out at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the Delhi fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse it
New Delhi:Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday constituted a three-member committee for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting judge of the Delhi high court, embroiled in a row over the alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash from his official residence after a fire incident.
The CJI ordered an in-house inquiry after getting a report from Chief Justice of Delhi high court D.K. Upadhyay and asked him not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma.
The inquiry committee consists of Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana high court Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh high court Justice G.S. Sandhawalia 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 Justice Varma, a statement from the top court said.
The report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, the response of Justice Varma and other documents have been uploaded on the Supreme Court website.
Denying the allegations, Justice Varma, in his response to the inquiry procedure undertaken by the Delhi high court, said, “I state unequivocally that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verges on the incredible and incredulous. It is a room which is completely disassociated from my living areas and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse. I only wish that the media had conducted some inquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press.”
“I also strongly deny and outrightly reject the insinuation, if made, that we removed currency from the storeroom. As stated above, we were neither shown nor handed over any sacks of burnt currency. In fact, and as stated above, the limited debris which was sought to be salvaged continues to exist in one part of the residence. As stated above, I, along with my wife, returned from Bhopal on Indigo Flight No. 6E 2303 only on the evening of 15 March 2025. Therefore, the question of its alleged removal is not known to us. In any event, none of my staff removed any article, currency or cash in any form,” he said.
In his report to the Chief Justice of India, CJ of Delhi HC said, “On examining the incident reported, the material available and the response of Justice Varma, what I find is that the commissioner of police in his report dated March 16 has reported that as per the guard posted at the residence of Justice Varma, the debris and other partially burnt articles were removed from the room where the fire had broken out in the morning of March 15. The enquiry conducted by me, prima facie, does not reveal the possibility of entry or access to the room by any person other than those residing in the bungalow, the servants, the gardeners and CPWD personnel, if any. Accordingly, I am of the prima facie opinion that the entire matter warrants a deeper probe.”
The report also carries three photographs of the burnt room and a video on a pendrive. The photographs are now in the public domain. A report by the Delhi police commissioner is also on the Supreme Court website, which says that the room where the fire was reported had 4-5 half-burnt sacks that had remains of Indian currency.
In a letter to Justice Upadhyaya on Friday, CJI Khanna had told him to ask Justice Verma how he accounts for the presence of money/cash in the room located in his premises; explain the source of money/cash which was found in the said room and who is the person who had removed the burnt money/cash from the room in the morning of March 15, 2025? He further said that “Justice Varma may be requested to not dispose of his mobile phone(s) or delete or modify any conversation, messages or data from his mobile phone(s).”
The decision to upload the inquiry report and Justice Varma’s reply on the apex court website was taken in the interest of transparency and aimed at “restoring the trust of the public in the judiciary,” according to sources.
The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash occurred when a fire broke out at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the Delhi fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse it.
The controversy over the alleged recovery of the cash was also raised in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar saying he will find a mechanism for holding a structured discussion on the issue.
The incident created ripples in the legal circuit, with many raising voices calling for the judge's resignation.
The top court in a statement on Friday said the Delhi high court Chief Justice had initiated an in-house inquiry against him. The proposal to transfer him to the Allahabad high court was independent and separate from the in-house procedure conducted by the Delhi high court.
The proposal for the transfer of Justice Varma was examined by the apex court collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges of the top court on March 20, and thereafter letters were written to the consultee judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the high courts concerned and Justice Varma.
The main Opposition party Congress on Saturday said the incident has raised serious concerns and urged the Supreme Court to take strong measures to uphold people's trust in the judiciary. It also said the incident should not give a handle to the executive to control judicial appointments in higher courts.
Congress general secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala said the incident has shocked the nation, including the legal fraternity and the country is looking towards the Supreme Court for strong measures.
The top court has an in-house inquiry mechanism in place to deal with allegations against judges of the constitutional courts. The procedure entails the CJI, after a preliminary inquiry, forming a committee of three Supreme Court judges to enquire into the matter after seeking the response of the judge concerned. Based on the report of the panel, further action could be taken.
A judge of a constitutional court can only be removed from office through an impeachment motion passed by Parliament.
