Justice Yashwant Varma Denies Cash Recovery Allegations, Says No Money Was Ever Put By Me or Family

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday uploaded the report submitted by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya on its website regarding the case of Justice Yashwant Varma, who is under scrutiny after a large pile of unaccounted cash was recovered from his residence on March 14.

In what is being seen as an unprecedented move by the top court in the interest of transparency, the probe report, furnished by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, spanning 25 pages and includes photos and documents has been released.

The report also contains the response of Justice Yashwant Varma, who denied the allegations against him. He stated that the room where the fire occurred and the cash allegedly found was an outhouse, not the main building where he and his family reside.

"I state unequivocally 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. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. 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. It is a room completely disassociated from my living areas, and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse. I only wish that the media had conducted some inquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press,” said Justice Yashwant Varma, as quoted in the High Court Chief Justice's report.

In addition to Justice Yashwant Varma’s statement, the report includes 25 pages of documents and photos of the burned sack of unaccounted cash.

Earlier today, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma. The committee comprises Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court), Justice GS Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Justice Anu Sivaraman (Judge of the Karnataka High Court).

The High Court Chief Justice has been asked by the CJI not to assign any further judicial work to the judge who is in question.

Why Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma is under scanner?

Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma is under investigation after a large amount of unaccounted cash was allegedly recovered from his residence following a fire that broke out on March 14, during the Holi weekend.

According to reports, neither Justice Yashwant Varma nor his wife were in town at that time, as they were in Bhopal. A call was made from their residence to the fire department, after which firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames.

After the incident surfaced, the Supreme Court Collegium transferred Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court. However, this decision drew criticism from the judicial fraternity, which questioned why stronger action was not taken, given the seriousness of the allegations.

On Friday, the Supreme Court clarified in a statement that the decision to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma was unrelated to the cash recovery incident.