Justice Yashwant Varma has found himself in the middle of a controversy involving alleged recovery of burnt currency notes from his official residence. The Supreme Court on late Saturday evening gave the first official confirmation that cash was found at the residence of the sitting Delhi High Court Judge when a fire broke out there on March 14. The apex court uploaded videos and photographs which Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora purportedly shared with the Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya. Despite the graphic evidence, Justice Varma has claimed to be innocent and alleged a frame-up. The top court has initiated an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma.
Timeline Of Events
March 14
Private Secretary of Justice Yashwant Varma made a PCR call and informed authorities about a fire inside the residential premises of Justice Varma. When the fire engines reached the spot, it was found that the fire was at an outhouse, being used as a storeroom. The fire was doused, and the prima facie cause was determined to be a short circuit. During the fire operation, four to five half-burnt sacks with Indian currency notes were recovered. Justice Varma and his wife were in Bhopal that day.
March 15
In the morning, a part of debris and half-burnt articles were removed from the fire site. In the evening, Justice Varma and his wife returned to Delhi. Following this, Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya received a call from Sanjay Arora, commissioner, Delhi Police, informing him about the fire incident at Justice Varma’s house on March 14. CJ Upadhyaya informed Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna following his communication with the police commissioner. Following instructions from CJI Khanna, he called for more information from the police commissioner.
CJ Upadhyaya’s registrar-cum-secretary visited Justice Varma’s residence and the site of the fire. Justice Varma and his private secretary accompanied the registrar-cum-secretary to the storeroom, where Justice Varma’s private secretary informed the registrar-cum-secretary that the room was being used to keep “useless articles of the household and remained accessible to all as it was not kept locked”.
March 16
CJ Upadhyaya reached Delhi from Lucknow and immediately went to meet CJI Khanna, as per an Indian Express report. The registrar-cum-secretary to CJ Upadhyaya submitted his report of the visit. The police commissioner submitted a report on the incident to CJ Upadhyaya, stating that, according to the guard posted at Justice Varma’s residence, the debris and other partially burnt articles were removed from the room where the fire had occurred.
March 17
CJ Upadhyaya showed Justice Varma the photos and video of the cash found at the storeroom, as shared with him by the police commissioner. Justice Varma expressed apprehension about a conspiracy to frame him, as per an Indian Express report.
March 20
As requested by CJI Khanna, CJ Upadhyaya sent three photographs, a video and two messages to CJI Khanna regarding the fire incident. CJI Khanna informed CJ Upadhyaya of a proposal to repatriate Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court. CJ Upadhyaya agreed to the proposal.
March 21
CJ Upadhyaya submitted a report on the incident following a preliminary inquiry to CJI Khanna, stating the “prima facie opinion that the entire matter warrants a deeper probe”. CJI Khanna wrote to CJ Upadhyaya requesting that Justice Varma be asked to provide his response in writing regarding the report’s findings on March 22. This was conveyed to Justice Varma in a communication by CJ Upadhyaya.
Additionally, CJI Khanna requested that Justice Varma be asked how he accounts for the presence of cash in the room, to explain its source and to identify the person who had removed the burnt cash from the room on the morning of March 15.
CJI Khanna also instructed CJ Upadhyaya to send a request letter to the mobile service provider for call detail records of the officials or other mobile phone numbers of Justice Varma for the last six months. He also seeks details of the official staff, personal security officers and security guards posted at Justice Varma’s residence during the same period. Additionally, CJI Khanna instructed that Justice Varma be requested not to dispose of his mobile phones or delete or modify any conversations.
March 22
Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma, in his defense, strongly denied that he or his family members had kept cash in the house, adding that the storeroom is disconnected from his main residence. He further claimed that the room is accessible to several people and claimed that there is an ongoing attempt to ruin his reputation. In response to March 21’s communication from CJI Khanna, CJ Upadhyaya submitted Justice Varma’s response to the allegations.
CJI Forms 3-Member Panel To Probe Allegations
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday constituted a three-member committee to investigate allegations against Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma. The inquiry is part of an in-house mechanism to investigate the allegations.
The three-member panel includes Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the Karnataka High Court.The CJI also directed the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma during the investigation.