3-member panel to probe discovery of cash
New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has set up a three-member panel to investigate the discovery of “four to five semi-burnt sacks” of currency notes following a fire at the Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma’s official residence in Lutyens’ Delhi on March 14. A video of the same was uploaded on the Supreme Court website. The incident, reported by firefighters and police, has propelled the matter into the critical second stage of the in-house procedure for probing allegations against sitting judges.
Conflicting accounts have emerged surrounding the discovery of notes at Justice Varma’s house. An in-house inquiry report by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, along with a video of firefighters dousing the blaze, raises questions about the Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg’s claim that no cash was found at the scene. The video, shared by Delhi police commissioner Sanjay Arora with Justice Upadhyaya, shows what appears to be half-burnt currency notes among items set ablaze in the residence’s storeroom. However, Garg had told media outlets on Friday that firefighters discovered no cash while extinguishing the flames, contradicting the footage and the inquiry report.
The inquiry panel, formed after a report by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya called for a deeper probe, comprises Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), Justice G.S. Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman. No timeline for concluding the probe has been fixed.
This investigation, overseen by the CJI, marks the second stage of the in-house procedure established in 2014, which assesses the veracity of allegations against constitutional court judges. Depending on the panel’s findings, the report may either exonerate Justice Varma or recommend further action, including urging the judge to resign or seek voluntary retirement. In an exceptional measure, CJI Khanna has directed the Delhi High Court chief justice to refrain from assigning any judicial work to Justice Varma pending the outcome of the probe.
The panel’s report will be pivotal in determining whether the allegations warrant initiation of proceedings for the removal of the judge, or if they should be recorded without further action.
The setting up of a three-member panel to investigate the incident is in an extraordinary step, and it temporarily withdrew judicial assignments from Justice Varma. The CJI had earlier asked Justice Upadhyaya to seek detailed responses from the judge on the presence and source of the alleged currency, and to collect phone records and other evidence for a deeper probe.
CJI Sanjiv Khanna had asked Justice Upadhyaya to specifically furnish information on three questions: How does he account 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. Who is the person who had removed the burnt money/cash from the room in the morning of March 15, 2025?
On the first question by the CJI, Justice Varma, in his response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice said: “As already stated, I was never aware of any money or cash lying in the outhouse storeroom. 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. No such cash or currency was shown to my family members or staff who were present on that fateful night.”
On the second query, Justice Varma said: “In light of my response above, the question of explaining the source of the currency does not arise.”
On the third pointer, Justice Varma said: “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 and along with my wife returned from Bhopal on Indigo Flight No. 6E 2303 only on the evening of March 15, 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.”
Justice Yashwant Varma, in his defense, referenced Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg’s claim that no cash was found at the scene in media to deny any knowledge of currency in the storeroom, calling the allegations of a cash discovery “a conspiracy to frame and malign” him.
“Insofar as the allegation of the recovery of cash, I once again make it clear that no one from my house ever reported seeing any currency in burnt form in the room. In fact, this gets further corroborated from there being no cash or currency which we saw when the site was restored to us after the fire personnel and the police had left the scene quite apart from being not apprised of any recovery or seizure which was made on the spot. This may also be viewed in light of the statement of the Chief of the Fire Service which I have gathered from news reports,” Justice Varma said in his reply to Justice Upadhyay who conducted in-house procedure on the issue.
As part of the probe, the Delhi High Court Chief Justice has requested call records and IPDR data for Justice Varma’s mobile phone spanning six months. If the panel’s findings substantiate serious misconduct, the CJI may recommend the judge’s resignation or proceed with further measures that could ultimately lead to removal proceedings.
