NEW DELHI (TIP): Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday, March 22, 2025, constituted a three-member committee consisting of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice Anu Sivaraman to conduct an inquiry into allegations of “huge” amount of cash found in the official residence premises of Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, during a blaze on the night of March 14. In a unique move to ensure total transparency, the Delhi Chief Justice’s in-house inquiry report, including the response of Justice Yashwant Varma, photos and videos were uploaded on the Supreme Court website late on Saturday (March 22, 2025).

The move comes within 24 hours of Delhi Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya submitting a report prima facie ascertaining the veracity of the allegations and collecting details and evidence.
In his report to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, the Delhi Chief Justice said “on examining the incident reported the material available and the response of Justice Yashwant Varma, what I find is that the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, in his report on March 15 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 the CPWD personnel, if any. Accordingly, I am of the prima facie opinion that the entire matter warrants a deeper probe”.

Justice Varma has noted in his reply that his cash withdrawals were documented, and the allegations were baseless and had already scarred his reputation. He said a conspiracy was afoot to malign him. The incident was a sequence of events to defame him, including unfounded allegations against him which circulated in the social media in December 2024. The outhouse storeroom, where the fire occurred, was not a part of his main residence was utilized generally by all and sundry to store articles. The storeroom was disconnected from the main residence. It was surely not a room in his house as reported in the media.

“I would be grateful if an enquiry is made with respect to my functioning as a judge and what is the perception of the legal fraternity with regard to my integrity and honesty in the discharge of my judicial functioning… What baffles me is the complete absence of any sacks of allegedly burnt currency which were ever recovered or seized. We categorically assert that neither my daughter, private secretary or household staff were shown the so-called sacks of burnt currency… I wonder who could countenance an allegation that currency would be kept in a storeroom in a corner of the house and which is freely accessible from amongst others the back wicker gate also,” he said in his reply to the Delhi Chief Justice.

Chief Justice Khanna has meanwhile asked Chief Justice Upadhyaya not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma. The Delhi High Court Chief Justice has agreed with the proposal of the CJI to repatriate Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court in the interest of the “better administration of justice”.

The CJI’s decision to form a three-member committee signals that the allegations against Justice Varma calls for a deeper probe. The Chief Justice of India would now be himself monitoring the progress of the enquiry against the judge. The response by Justice Varma to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice contains his answers to three questions, which were cardinal points of the prima facie enquiry.

The first question was how he accounted for the “presence of money in the room located in your bungalow”.

To this, Justice Varma has replied that he “was never aware of any money or cash lying in the outhouse storeroom. He said that neither he nor his family members or staff had anything to do with the cash allegedly found in the gutted room. More importantly, the judge said “no such cash was shown to my family members or staff who were present on that fateful night”.

To the second question of the enquiry to explain the “source of money”, Justice Varma said the question does not arise as he had nothing to do with the cash allegedly found and videotaped.

The Police Commissioner’s report on the incident said a guard had seen a person removing articles from the gutted room on the morning of March 15.

To the query who had removed the “burnt currency” from the room on the morning of March 15, Justice Varma said he strongly rejected the insinuation that “we” had removed currency from the storeroom.

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“We were neither shown nor handed any sacks of burnt currency. The debris from the gutted room continues to exist in a part of the residence,” he had replied. Justice Varma said he and his wife were in Bhopal on the night of March 14, and had returned only on March 15 evening.

“Therefore, the question of its (burnt currency) alleged removal is not known to us. In any event none of my staff removed any article, currency or cash in any form,” Justice Varma has responded categorically.

Justice Varma said he had inspected the storeroom along with an officer of the Delhi High Court and was “totally shocked by the contents of the video depicting something which was not found on site as I had seen it”. He expressed apprehension that it was a conspiracy to frame and malign him.

“I unequivocally State that neither I nor any of my family members had stored cash or kept any cash or currency in that storeroom at any point of time,” Justice Varma said.
(Source: ANI)