Justice Varma indicted: 10 eyewitnesses confirmed cash among 55 questioned, say sources

New Delhi: A damning inquiry report by a Supreme Court-appointed three-judge panel has reportedly indicted Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court, confirming serious allegations of misconduct.

The panel’s findings, submitted to then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and forwarded to the President and Prime Minister earlier this month, recommend the removal of the judge.

The inquiry, triggered by the discovery of a huge sum of burnt cash at Justice Varma’s official residence in New Delhi following a fire on March 14, has laid bare troubling details, say sources.

The three-member committee, comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G. S. Sandhawalia, and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman, meticulously examined the evidence and testimony of 55 witnesses over several weeks, sources added.

In its report, finalised on May 3, the committee unequivocally stated that the cash was found in a storeroom at 30 Tughlak Crescent, the official residence allotted to Justice Varma, according to sources.

Sources said the panel concluded that access to the storeroom was under the “covert or active control” of Justice Varma and his family, thereby establishing a direct link between the judge and the cache of cash.

The report further states that strong inferential evidence indicates the burnt cash was removed from the storeroom in the early hours of March 15, hours after the fire, sources informed.

The committee, weighing “direct and electronic evidence on record,” expressed a firm view that the allegations of misconduct raised in the letter from the then Chief Justice of India dated March 22, 2025, are “sufficiently substantiated” and serious enough to call for the initiation of removal proceedings against Justice Varma, sources said.

Throughout the inquiry, the panel examined a broad spectrum of witnesses, including 11 officials from the Delhi Fire Services, multiple police personnel ranging from rank-and-file officers to top brass, three personal security officers assigned to Justice Varma, CRPF static guards, and domestic as well as court staff.

Notably, the judge’s daughter, who was present during the fire, and Justice Varma himself were questioned extensively.

Significantly, ten eyewitnesses testified about the presence of cash in the storeroom, corroborating the central allegation that Justice Varma’s residence housed a large amount of currency under questionable circumstances, sources said.

The report’s implications are stark: the presence of such unexplained cash in a judge’s official residence, coupled with his failure to provide a satisfactory explanation for its source, strikes at the very core of his integrity, say sources.

The panel’s recommendation to pursue removal proceedings underscores the seriousness of the misconduct and sends a clear message that the highest standards of probity must be upheld within the judiciary, say analysts.

IANS