Watch video below as Supreme Court uploads full report on alleged cash recovery at Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence to ensure transparency. Justice Varma calls it a conspiracy and denies all allegations.
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NEW DELHI: In a very rare and transparent step, the Supreme Court of India uploaded a full report on its website about an incident involving Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Yashwant Varma.
This report was submitted by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya. The report includes all the related documents and even the detailed reply given by Justice Varma himself.
The reason behind uploading such a sensitive report on the Supreme Court website is to ensure full transparency and stop any false news or confusion spreading among people.
The Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, took this big step after discussing with other senior judges from the Supreme Court collegium, including Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice AS Oka, and Justice Vikram Nath.
All of them agreed that it was better to make the report public.
This shows that the top court wants to maintain the clean image of the judiciary and not allow any rumours to spoil its name.
Justice Yashwant Varma has denied all the claims that a big amount of cash was found in his house.
He clearly said,
“… I was totally shocked to see the contents of the video since that depicted something which was not found on site as I had seen it. It was this which prompted me to observe that this clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign me,”.
He said this while referring to a video that was shown by the police chief.
Some parts of the report have been hidden, especially names and personal information, to protect privacy and confidentiality. In the report, the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court wrote to the Chief Justice of India and said,
“… He [Justice Varma] also informed me that at the time of the incident, he was in Bhopal and got the information from his daughter. Justice Verma further told me that at the moment, black burnt material (soot) is lying in the room. I thereafter showed him the photographs and the video on my WhatsApp which were shared with me by the Commissioner of Police. He [Justice Varma] then expressed some apprehension about some conspiracy against him.”
On March 21, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna sent three important questions to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice. These questions were meant for Justice Varma to answer.
The three questions were –
- How does he explain the presence of cash in the room found in his premises?
- What is the source of that cash?
- Who removed the burnt cash from the room on the morning of March 15, 2025?
The Chief Justice of India also wanted details of all the staff members, security guards, and personal security officers who were posted at Justice Varma’s residence in the last six months. He also advised checking the call details of Justice Varma’s mobile phone numbers during the same period by asking the mobile companies.
He said,
“Justice Yashwant Varma may be requested to not dispose of his mobile phone(s) or delete or modify any conversation, messages or data from his mobile phone(s). The reply submitted by Justice Yashwant Varma, along with your comments, may be furnished to me immediately for further action,”
Because this matter is very serious and sensitive, Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya asked Justice Varma to give answers to these questions before Saturday midnight.
He said,
“The reported incident is very disturbing”.
Justice Yashwant Varma gave a full response. He explained that a fire happened on the night of March 14-15 in a storeroom near the staff quarters in his official house.
He said,
“This room was generally utilised by all and sundry to store articles such as unused furniture, bottles, crockery, mattresses, used carpets, old speakers, garden implements as well as CPWD material. This room is unlocked and accessible both from the official front gate as well as the backdoor of the staff quarters. It is disconnected from the main residence and is surely not a room in my house as has been portrayed and suggested in the article which appeared in the Times of India and certain other news reports. On that date, my wife and I were not in Delhi and travelling in Madhya Pradesh and it was only my daughter and aged mother who were at home. I returned to Delhi only on the evening of 15 March from Bhopal travelling on an IndiGo flight with my wife,”
He added more in his reply and said,
“We have, since that fateful night, been continuously trying to find an explanation for the allegations which are being levelled and with us being required to prove an allegation which is premised on cash being discovered and the same presumed to belong to me or my family members. That presumption requires me to not only furnish an explanation with respect to the existence of an article allegedly present in a commonly used outhouse and general storeroom which was freely accessible but also requires me to ‘account’ for the same.”
“That takes me to the video clip which has been shared with me. Assuming without admitting that the video was taken immediately at the time of the incident at the site, none of it appears to have been recovered or seized. The second aspect which I need to underscore is that none of the staff was shown any remnants of cash or currency that may have been present on site. I have made my own enquiries from the staff present who have also stated that there was no ‘removal’ of currency which was allegedly found at the site or removed from the premises. The only thing which was cleared was debris and what they considered to be salvageable. That is still present in the house and can be seen kept apart in one part of the residence.”
“What baffles me is the complete absence of any sacks of allegedly burnt currency which were ever recovered or seized. We categorically assert that neither my daughter, PS [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. I request you to bear in mind that the storeroom is removed from my residence and is 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.”
“I would beseech you to also bear in consideration that no currency was recovered from the premises that we actually occupy and use as a family. That part of the premises is as indicated above removed from the living quarters. It is in the aforesaid background that I urge you to absolve me of these unfounded and baseless allegations. 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,”
Senior advocate Harish Salve also gave his opinion on this matter and said the current collegium system is not capable of handling such sensitive issues. He told the media that the system is “not equipped” to manage a situation like the alleged recovery of a large sum of money from a judge’s house.
He also said the Delhi fire chief himself has confirmed that no cash was found at the judge’s bungalow, and this creates a very “odd and murky” situation.
Justice Yashwant Varma has had a long and respectable career. As per the Delhi High Court website, he became a lawyer in August 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge in the Allahabad High Court in October 2014, and in February 2016, he became a permanent judge there. Later, in October 2021, he was made a judge in the Delhi High Court. Currently, he handles important legal matters like GST, sales tax, and company-related appeals.
The Supreme Court also made it clear that the recent recommendation to transfer Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court has nothing to do with the cash case. The in-house inquiry is separate and follows the rules laid down by the top court itself. The Supreme Court has strongly said that false information and fake rumours are the reasons why people are wrongly connecting the transfer with this issue.
This full story shows how the Supreme Court is trying to maintain truth, fairness, and transparency in a very delicate matter. It also highlights the seriousness of reputation and honesty in a judge’s life.
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