Delhi HC inquiry report, video on SC site contradict DFS claim that no cash found from judge's house

DFS chief Atul Garg had, on March 21, said that fire fighters did not find any cash from Justice Varma's residence during a fire incident on March 14.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court's inquiry report and a video uploaded on the Supreme Court website have cast doubt on the Delhi Fire Services' claim that fire fighters found no cash while dousing flames at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, a Delhi High Court judge, on March 14.

The video, shared by Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora with Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, was uploaded on the apex court's website as part of the 25-page report on Saturday night.

The video, which has since gone viral on social media, shows Delhi Fire Services (DFS) fire fighters dousing the flames on articles that apparently included half-burnt Indian currency notes.

DFS chief Atul Garg had, on March 21, told PTI that fire fighters did not find any cash from Justice Varma's residence during a fire incident on March 14.

"Soon after dousing the flames, we informed police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our fire fighters did not find any cash during the fire-fighting operation," he had told PTI and two electronic news channels on March 21.

The discrepancies in the two accounts are glaring.

The DFS chief had also said that the control room received a call about the blaze at Justice Varma's Lutyens' Delhi residence at 11:35 pm on March 14 and two fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

The inquiry report of the Delhi High Court chief justice, however, apparently contradicts this as well.

The report of Justice Upadhyaya says the Delhi police chief told him on March 16 that Justice Varma's personal secretary called the police control room first to inform about the fire incident at the residence of the judge and that the DFS was not informed separately.

"It has also been informed that the fire service was not informed separately, though once PCR was contacted, the information relating to fire was automatically sent to the Delhi Fire Services," Justice Upadhyay has said in his preliminary report submitted to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.

On Friday, the Supreme Court took note of the allegations against Justice Varma, from whose residence a large stash of cash was allegedly discovered during the fire incident. It also reportedly called for his transfer to the Allahabad High Court.

CJI Khanna formed a three-member committee on Saturday to conduct an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma and directed that no judicial work be assigned to him. The inquiry was ordered after the report of Justice Upadhyaya was submitted to the CJI.

The inquiry committee consists of Justices Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman.

The purported discovery of the half-burnt cash happened after a fire broke out at Justice Varma's residence at around 11:35 pm on the night of Holi on March 14.

In a statement on Friday, the top court said the Delhi High Court CJ had initiated an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma and separately, there was a proposal to transfer the judge to the Allahabad High Court.

"There is misinformation and rumours are being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma," the statement said.

Upon receiving the information, the apex court said Justice Upadhyaya "commenced the in-house enquiry procedure, collecting evidence and information".

Justice Upadhyaya was stated to have commenced the enquiry prior to a meeting of the apex court collegium on March 20.

The top court had said the proposal to transfer Justice Varma was examined by the apex court collegium comprising the CJI and the four seniormost judges on March 20 and thereafter, letters were shot off to the consultee judges of the top court and the chief justices of the high courts concerned, besides Justice Varma.

"Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the collegium will pass a resolution," the court had said.

Justice Varma has strongly denounced the allegations in the currency-discovery row and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom of his residence either by him or any of his family members.

In his response submitted to the Delhi High Court CJ, Justice Varma has said the allegations of cash discovery from his residence clearly appear to be a "conspiracy to frame and malign him".

Justice Varma was enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014.

He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016, before being appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.

He currently heads a division bench dealing with cases of sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), company appeals and other appeals on the original side.

The top court has an in-house inquiry mechanism in place to deal with allegations against judges of the constitutional courts.