NEW DELHI: The three-judge inquiry committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the cash recovery at Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence on March 14 submitted its report to Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna 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 top court directed the committee to conduct a detailed inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma, a sitting Judge at Allahabad High Court at present.
The three-member inquiry committee, during its probe, visited Justice Varma’s official residence at 30 Tughlak Crescent in Delhi and conducted an investigation.
In his defence, Justice Varma has vehemently denied all the allegations levelled against him. He has claimed that the room which caught fire and where cash was allegedly found was an outhouse and not the main building where the judge and family resides.
"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,” Justice Varma, said, in his reply, a copy accessed by TNIE.
It is a room which is 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 enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press," the reply further read.
He was also asked not to dispose of his mobile phone.
Earlier, in meetings held on March 20 and 24, 2025, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge of the Delhi High Court, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad.
The CJI had constituted the inquiry committee after receiving the report submitted by Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in this matter.
The SC had said that on receiving the cash recovery information, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, initiated the in-house enquiry procedure against him.
As per reports, a fire at the judge's house on March 14 had inadvertently led to the recovery of alleged cash by the firefighter. It said the cash was found initially by fire tenders when the fire broke out in the judge’s residence on March 14. The judge was not present at his house when the fire incident took place.
Justice Varma, in his reply, to the probe panel, said that no currency was recovered from the premises that he and his family actually occupy and use as a family.
"That part of the premises is as indicated removed from the living quarters. It is in the aforesaid background that I urge you to absolve me of these unfounded and baseless allegations," Justice Varma said.
He, in his reply, clarified that in the life of a judge, nothing matters more than reputation and character. That has been severely tarnished and irreparably damaged.
"The baseless allegations that have been levelled against me have proceeded on mere innuendos and an unproven assumption that the cash allegedly seen and found belonged to me," Justice Varma replied.
Terming that the incident has scarred his reputation built over more than a decade as a Judge of a High Court, Justice Varma said, he is left with no means to defend himself.
"I would also beseech you to bear in consideration that in all my years as a Judge of a High Court, no such allegation had ever been made in the past nor any doubt cast on my integrity. In fact, I would be grateful if an enquiry is made with respect to my functioning as a judge and what is the perception of the legal fraternity with regard to my integrity and honesty in the discharge of my judicial functioning," Justice Varma said.
Claiming his innocence on certain questions put to him, Justice Varma clarified that he was never aware of any money or cash lying in the outhouse storeroom.
"Neither I nor any of my family members had any knowledge of cash nor does it have any bearing or relation with me or my family. No such cash or currency was shown to my family members or staff who were present on that fateful night," he said.
Justice Varma added that what baffles him was the complete absence of any sacks of allegedly burnt currency which were ever recovered or seized.
"We categorically assert that neither my daughter, Private Secretary nor household staff were shown these so-called sacks of burnt currency. I stand by my consistent position that when they accessed the storeroom, there was no currency, burnt or otherwise, which could be seen," he stated.
Clarifying his stand, he added the storeroom is removed from his residence and was used as a general dump room for disused articles and other sundry household articles.
"I wonder who would countenance an allegation that currency would be kept in a storeroom in a corner of the house and which is freely accessible from amongst others the back wicker gate also," Justice Varma in his defence replied.
