Justice Varma case: Police, fire officials confirm cash found during March 14 blaze; panel asks why not seized, why video erased

“As for why the video of the burning cash was deleted from the mobile phones of the first responders, the panel was informed it was done on the directions of senior officers to ensure it did not fall into wrong hands,” said a source.

A video released by the SC in March shows burnt cash at Justice Varma’s house

According to sources, the “due process” referred to by the police officers before the committee was that no criminal case can be registered against a judge of a High Court or the Supreme Court unless the government first consults the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Hence, the junior police officers escalating the matter to their seniors — who then informed Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, who, in turn, informed CJI Sanjiv Khanna — was cited as the police as “due process.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also made a reference to this at a recent event in which he said, “They made a NIL in a seizure (section). Since we cannot register an FIR, how can a seizure take place? An FIR can only be registered with the permission of the CJI…We should wait for the committee’s decision.”

It is also learned that all first responders from Delhi Police and the fire service, as well as Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg and Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, have told the committee that there was cash in the store room where the fire broke out on the night of March 14.

A source said that in their statements, all the first responders clearly mentioned there was cash in the bag that had been found gutted in the fire. “Apart from the first responders, senior officers have also maintained the sequence of events in their statements and claimed they were informed by their subordinates about the fire incident, and were shown a video clip of the scene,” the source said.

However, Justice Varma, in his response to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, denied the presence of any money, saying that no cash was shown to the staff at his residence. “When the fire broke out around midnight, the fire service was alerted by my daughter and my private secretary, whose calls would be duly recorded. During the exercise to douse the fire, all staff and the members of my household were asked to move away from the scene of the incident in view of safety concerns. After the fire was doused and when they went back to the scene of the incident, they saw no cash or currency on site,” he had said in a response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, who included it in his initial report to CJI Sanjiv Khanna, and later made it public March 22.

So far, the panel, comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana; Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka; has recorded the statements of all five police personnel who were among the first responders to the fire at Justice Varma’s residence; Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg; three firefighters; three security personnel of the judge; CRPF personnel; Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora; DCP Mahala; Additional DCP (New Delhi district) Sumit Jha; and domestic helps at the Haryana State Guest House in Chanakyapuri, according to a source.

A fire at Justice Varma’s residence on March 14 had sparked a controversy after wads of burnt currency were allegedly found at his home. The Supreme Court formally recommended the transfer of Justice Varma to his parent High Court of Allahabad and CJI Khanna set up the three-member committee “for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma.”

Justice Varma took oath as judge at the Allahabad High Court on April 5.

The Delhi Police has submitted to Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya details of security personnel stationed at Justice Varma’s residence for the last six months, his call detail records for the same period, and Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDR) for the same period. The Chief Justice’s office had written to the police chief seeking these details following the CJI’s directions.