A three-member panel constituted by the Chief Justice of India has concluded their investigation in the Justice Yashwant Varma cash row. The committee has declared that cash was found in the storeroom of the official residence of the High court judge.
The committee, formed on May 3 submitted a 64-page report that was first sent to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The committee confirmed that “half-burnt currency notes” were seen while the firefighters were dousing the blaze. The panel interviewed 55 witnesses and also recorded Justice Varma’s statement. The report stated that two damning paragraphs at the end of the report conclude that “cash/money was found in the store room of 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi officially occupied by Justice (Yashwant) Varma.”
The report was published by the legal website, The Leaflet on Thursday.
According to the report, the police and fire officers were “slipshod” in not lodging an FIR or preparing memos of the seized items during the fire on March 14-15. The committee highlighted that the police officials involved in the event attempted to explain their inaction citing the “sensitivity of the issue” and absence of Justice Varma at the time of the incident.
One witness told the committee, "As I entered, I noticed on the right-hand side and in front, there was a large pile of cash of Rs 500 notes lying on the floor. I was shocked and surprised at such large amounts of cash strewn on the floor. I saw this for the first time in my life."
The panel recommended: “Keeping in view the direct and electronic evidence record, this Committee is firmly of the view that there is sufficient substance in the allegations raised in the letter of Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India dated 22.03.2025 and the misconduct found proved is serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for removal of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge of the Allahabad High Court,” according to the report published by The Leaflet.
A removal motion against Justice Varma will be introduced in the parliament during the monsoon session scheduled in July. The committee comprising Justices Sheel Nagu, GS Sandhawalia and Anu Sivaraman refused to accept the version that Justice Varma was part of a controversy.
“In the absence of any plausible explanation coming from Justice Varma or his family members or for that matter any other witness, this committee is left with no option, but to hold that the trust reposed in him was belief by him by allowing highly suspicious material in the shape of piles of currency notes to be stashed in the storeroom. Whether this was done with the tacit or explicit consent of Justice Varma or his family is of little significance in the face of the larger concept of breach of public trust and probity expected of the high constitutional office held by Justice Varma,” the report said.
