Supreme Court confirms cash found at Delhi HC Judge Yashwant Varma’s residence during fire, releases video footage

The Supreme Court also uploaded videos and photographs which Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora purportedly shared with the Chief Justice Upadhyaya.

The images and video show a fireman pulling out half-burnt wads of cash in plastic bags. “Mahatma Gandhi mein aag lag gayi (Mahatma Gandhi is on fire),” a person is heard saying in the video, referring to the Gandhi image on the notes that had caught fire.

Before making the HC report public, the CJI is learnt to have communicated the decision to a senior member of the Supreme Court Collegium.

Justice Varma, in his official response to Chief Justice Upadhyaya, has denied the allegations. “I would beseech you to bear in consideration that no currency was recovered from the premises that we actually occupy and use as a family,” he said.

The report was released hours after Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee to probe the allegations against the HC judge.

A release from the Supreme Court said the Delhi High Court Chief Justice “for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work” to Justice Varma.

“The Chief Justice of India has constituted a three member Committee consisting of Mr. Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Mr. Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Ms. Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge of the High Court of Delhi,” the release stated.

It said the report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court as well as the response of Justice Varma “and other documents” would be uploaded on the court website — and was done subsequently.

The decision to appoint the committee followed the submission Friday of a fact-finding report to the CJI by Chief Justice Upadhyaya.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court Collegium had proposed Justice Varma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, following a report about the discovery of cash at his residence when a fire broke out there on March 14.

Highly-placed sources said the five-member Collegium unanimously resolved to recommend Justice Varma’s transfer after the judges were apprised about a video of the incident.

In a statement Friday, the Supreme Court Registry said the Collegium’s “proposal for the transfer of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority” was “independent and separate from the in-house enquiry procedure” initiated by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court upon receiving information about the incident.

While noting the “misinformation and rumours being spread” regarding the incident at the residence of Justice Varma, the statement said the report by the HIgh Court Chief Justice “will be examined and processed for further and necessary action”. Subsequently, the report was submitted to the CJI late Friday.