NEW DELHI: A three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel has recommended the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma after piles of burnt and unburnt cash were found at his residence, sources said.
The panel examined more than 55 witnesses and in its 64-page report on morning indicted Justice Varma for misconduct.
"This committee holds the cash was found in the storeroom located within the premises of 30 Tughlaq Crescent officially occupied by Justice Varma," the report read.
The panel further noted that Justice Varma failed to offer any plausible explanation for his claim of having no knowledge of the cash found at his residence.
"It is unbelievable. If there was any conspiracy, why did he not file a complaint or inform the Chief Justice of the High Court or the Chief Justice of India?"
The panel, stating that large piles of cash were found at Justice Varma's residence, said that it made a scathing remark against the judge, noting that he did not report the incident to the police, judiciary or any authority.
After examining multiple eyewitness' accounts and evidence, the panel confirmed the presence of Rs 500 notes. It also described the conduct of the Allahabad High Court judge 'unnatural'.
The committee also scrutinised the roles of Justice Varma’s daughter, Diya Varma, and his private secretary, Rajinder Karki, who allegedly instructed firefighters not to report the presence of cash at the scene.
On May 8, following Justice Yashwant Varma’s indictment in the cash recovery case by a Supreme Court-appointed in-house committee, then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna sent a letter to the Centre recommending his impeachment.
The decision came after Justice Varma refused to resign despite the committee’s findings, prompting the then CJI to take the unprecedented step of seeking his removal.
Earlier, in line with the in-house procedure, the former CJI Khanna had written to the President and the Prime Minister, enclosing the three-member inquiry committee’s report dated May 3 and Justice Yashwant Varma’s response dated May 6.
The Supreme Court-appointed panel, which was probing the recovery of cash from Justice Varma’s residence on March 14, submitted its findings to the then CJI on May 4. Following the indictment, Justice Khanna had asked Justice Varma to resign.
The committee arrived at its conclusion after thoroughly examining a range of evidence and recording statements from over 45 individuals, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and the chief of Delhi Fire Services.
The allegation was vehemently denied by Justice Yashwant Varma in his responses to both the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court-appointed inquiry panel.
When TNIE contacted Justice Varma through calls and messages seeking his response to the findings of the in-house probe, there was no reply from him.
The three-judge inquiry committee appointed by the Supreme Court, which was probing the cash recovery at Justice Varma’s house on March 14, has submitted a report to CJI on May 4.
After 40 days of setting up of the panel by the top court, the committee submitted its report, after making due diligence on the probe in the cash recovery issue.
The SC had on March 25 constituted the three-member inquiry Committee, consisting 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 Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka.
The inquiry panel focused on several key questions during its investigation to reach a conclusive finding. “These included - Who is the owner of the large amount of cash? Who brought and stored these currency notes in the storeroom, if any?” a source said.
The panel also questioned why the currency notes, reportedly found in the storeroom, were not shown to Justice Varma’s family members, as claimed by him. It further sought clarity on the whereabouts of the burnt currency remains, which were visible in a video shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner with the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
Justice Yashwant Varma, in his written reply accessed by TNIE, firmly denied any link to the recovered cash, stating that neither he nor any of his family members had placed the money in the storeroom.
“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,” he said.
Calling the allegation “preposterous,” Justice Varma said the idea that anyone would store cash in a commonly used, freely accessible storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse was “incredible and incredulous.” He added that the storeroom was entirely separate from his living quarters and demarcated by a boundary wall.
Expressing concern over media coverage, he remarked, “I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press.”
