NEW DELHI: Delhi high court judge Yashwant Varma has strongly denied allegations that a large sum of burnt currency was recovered from his official residence after a recent fire incident.
In a lengthy letter to Delhi high court’s chief justice, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Justice Varma called the claims “baseless” and “preposterous”, asserting that neither he nor his family had any connection to the alleged cash.
“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,” he wrote. “The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous.”
Questioning the credibility of the allegations, he added, “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 the accusations had severely damaged his reputation. “In the life of a judge, nothing matters more than reputation and character. That has been severely tarnished and irreparably damaged,” he stated.
He dismissed any suggestion that he removed or handled currency at the site, saying, “I categorically reject any suggestion that we removed currency from the storeroom. We were neither shown nor given any sacks of burnt currency. The limited debris recovered during the incident was confined to a particular section of the residence, and there was no evidence of any currency.”
Drawing attention to his financial transparency, he mentioned that all his transactions were conducted through banks, UPI, and cards. He also pointed out that authorities found no cash when the site was returned to him, stating, “When the site was handed back to us after the fire personnel and police concluded their operations, we saw no evidence of any currency.”
Following the controversy, CJI Sanjiv Khanna has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the allegations.
The panel includes Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh high court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka high court.
CJI Khanna also directed that Justice Varma be relieved of judicial duties until the inquiry is completed.
