New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on Saturday initiated an in-house inquiry against Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma after allegations such as that sacks of cash were found at his residence when a fire broke out on March 14, as shown in a purported video.
While the high court inquiry report has been made public, with some portions redacted, several questions remain unanswered regarding the events that unfolded over the course of a week.
March 14, 11.43 pm:
A PCR call made by the private secretary of Justice Yashwant Varma notified authorities about a fire inside the residential premises of Justice Varma. Two fire engines reached the spot, where it was found that the fire was at an outhouse adjoining a boundary wall of the residential premises, which was being used as a storeroom. The fire was immediately doused, and the prima facie cause was determined to be a short circuit. After bringing the fire under control, 4-5 half-burnt gunny sacks containing Indian currency notes were found.
Justice Varma and his wife were in Bhopal on that day, with only his mother, daughter and other staffers present at the residence at the time of the incident.
March 15
Some debris and half-burnt articles from the outhouse were removed. Justice Varma and his wife, who were in Bhopal, returned to Delhi. Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, who was in Lucknow, received a call from Sanjay Arora, commissioner, Delhi Police, informing him about the fire incident at Justice Varma’s house the day before.
CJ Upadhyaya informed Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna following his communication with the police commissioner. Following instructions from CJI Khanna, he called for more information from the police commissioner.
At 9.10 pm: CJ Upadhyaya’s registrar-cum-secretary visited Justice Varma’s residence and the site of the fire. Justice Varma and his private secretary accompanied the registrar-cum-secretary to the storeroom, where Justice Varma’s private secretary informed the registrar-cum-secretary that the room was being used to keep “useless articles of the household and remained accessible to all as it was not kept locked”. The registrar-cum-secretary, along with Justice Varma and his private secretary, spent around 8-10 minutes inside the room.
March 16
Evening: CJ Upadhyaya reached Delhi from Lucknow and immediately went to meet CJI Khanna.
The registrar-cum-secretary to CJ Upadhyaya submitted his report of the visit, stating that “half-burnt articles were lying there and burnt articles/debris were lying on the floor”.
The police commissioner submitted a report on the incident to CJ Upadhyaya, stating that, according to the guard posted at Justice Varma’s residence, the debris and other partially burnt articles were removed from the room where the fire had occurred.
March 17
Around 8.30 am: CJ Upadhyaya met Justice Varma at the Delhi HC Guest House. CJ Upadhyaya showed Justice Varma the photos and video of the cash found at the storeroom, as shared with him by the police commissioner. Justice Varma expressed apprehension about a conspiracy to frame him.
March 20
Morning: As requested by CJI Khanna, CJ Upadhyaya sent three photographs, a video and two messages to CJI Khanna regarding the fire incident.
Evening: CJI Khanna informed CJ Upadhyaya of a proposal to repatriate Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court. CJ Upadhyaya assented to the proposal.
March 21
CJ Upadhyaya submitted a report on the incident following a preliminary inquiry to CJI Khanna, stating the “prima facie opinion that the entire matter warrants a deeper probe”.
CJI Khanna wrote to CJ Upadhyaya requesting that Justice Varma be asked to provide his response in writing regarding the report’s findings on or before 12 pm on March 22. This was conveyed to Justice Varma in a communication by CJ Upadhyaya.
Additionally, CJI Khanna requested that Justice Varma be asked how he accounts for the presence of cash in the room, to explain its source and to identify the person who had removed the burnt cash from the room on the morning of March 15.
CJI Khanna also instructed CJ Upadhyaya to send a request letter to the mobile service provider for call detail records of the officials or other mobile phone numbers of Justice Varma for the last six months. He also seeks details of the official staff, personal security officers and security guards posted at Justice Varma’s residence during the same period. Additionally, CJI Khanna instructed that Justice Varma be requested not to dispose of his mobile phones or delete or modify any conversations.
March 22:
Justice Varma responded, stating that no cash was ever placed in the storeroom by him or his family members. He raises questions about why the alleged sacks of burnt cash weren’t recovered or seized and states that the family was never shown these sacks of burnt currency notes.
In response to March 21’s communication from CJI Khanna, CJ Upadhyaya submitted Justice Varma’s response to the allegations. CJ Upadhyaya also furnishes details of the high court staff deputed with Justice Varma in the past six months (from 1.9.2024) and the call detail records of Justice Varma for the last six months.
CJ Upadhyaya said that a request had been made to DCP (security) for details of the personal security officers and security guards posted at Justice Varma’s residence in the past six months.
CJI Khanna issued a press note in the evening, stating that a three-member committee comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court; Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice, Himachal Pradesh High Court; and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court would conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma.
In his written explanation to the Chief Justice of The High Court of Delhi, Justice Yashwant Varma has stated that the visuals of piles of burnt cash at his residence appears to be a ‘conspiracy’ to ‘malign’ him.
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