'Cash found' at Justice Varma's house: CJI forms panel to probe charges; directs to strip him of judicial work

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday constituted a three-member judges' committee to conduct an inquiry against Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma on the basis of a report related to alleged recovery of cash pile during the fire incident at his residence here on the night of March 14-15.

Justice Verma, on his part, denied recovery of any cash and termed the whole episode as a conspiracy. "I unequivocally state 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," he said.

However, the CJI ordered setting up of the panel which would consist of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Ms Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court, according to a press release from the Supreme Court.

"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," it said.

The CJI has acted on a report submitted by Justice D K Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court of Delhi and initiated the formal in-house inquiry into the matter, which shook the judiciary.

"The enquiry conducted by me, prima facie, does not reveal 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 CJ Upadhyaya said on March 21 in response to the CJI's letter.

In a step to ensure transparency in the matter, it has also been directed to upload the Chief Justices report, the response of Justice Varma, and other documents, on the Supreme Court website, the release added.

As per response made to Chief Justice Upadhyaya's queries, available on website, Justice Varma denied recovery of any sack of cash from the place, used as the store room, freely accessible all personal and CPWD staff and also from back wicker gate.

On being shown the video, he said, "I was totally shocked to see the contents of the video since that depicted something which was not found on site as I had seen it....This clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign me."

He claimed the entire incident is part of a sequence of events which occurred in the recent past including the unfounded allegations that circulated on social media in December 2024.

"Neither I nor any of my family members had stored or kept any cash or currency in that storeroom at any point of time," Justice Varma said.

Justice Varma said, "the very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous".

He said 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".

He also maintained, it is a room which is completely disassociated from his living areas and a boundary wall demarcated his living area from that outhouse.

With regard to the allegation of the recovery of cash, he said, "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 we being not apprised of any recovery or seizure which was made on the spot."

Justice Varma repeatedly maintained none of his family members, PS or household staff were shown so called half burnt currency. With regard to a charge of removal of currency allegedly found at the site, he said, "The only thing which was cleared was debris and what they considered to be salvageable. That is still present in the house and can be seen kept apart in one part of the residence."

Earlier on March 20, the Supreme Court has initiated a "procedure" for an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma, and decided to transfer him to Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, on the basis of an adverse report.

The action in the matter was initiated after CJI and other senior most judges were reportedly apprised of a video purportedly of burning cash at the residence of Justice Varma. A fact-finding report was called from the HC's Chief Justice.

The fire incident reportedly occurred on March 14 at about 11.30 pm. Justice Varma was not home when the fire incident occurred, and fire tenders and police reportedly stumbled on the money in a room, while dousing the flames. The Delhi police have reported that they found 4-5 half burnt sacks full of Indian currency from the place.

Justice Varma was the second senior most judge in the High Court and a member of the Collegium. He would be ninth in the seniority in Allahabad High Court, if his transfer to his parent High Court is materialised.

Justice Varma was appointed as additional judge of the High Court on October 13, 2014. He took oath as the permanent judge on February 1, 2014. He was appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.

Varma was born on January 6, 1969 at Allahabad, now Prayagraj. His father was the judge of the Allahabad High Court.

He pursued the B Com (Honours) degree course at Hansraj College Delhi University. He was awarded the LLB degree by Rewa University, Madhya Pradesh and thereafter enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992.