A three-judge in-house committee probing allegations of unaccounted cash discovered at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma has submitted its report to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, the Supreme Court confirmed.
“The three-member Committee consisting of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, constituted for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge of the Delhi High Court then, has submitted its report dated May 03, 2025 to the Chief Justice of India on May 04, 2025,” the apex court stated in a press note.
The contents of the report remain confidential.
The in-house inquiry was initiated following media reports of a large sum of cash allegedly discovered in a store-room of Justice Varma’s official out-house during a firefighting operation.
The incident took place while Justice Varma was serving as a judge of the Delhi High Court. He was subsequently transferred to the Allahabad High Court, his parent court.
The CJI ordered the probe on March 22 based on a preliminary report submitted by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay. Justice Upadhyay had concluded that “the entire matter warrants a deeper probe.”
In his written response to the Delhi High Court, Justice Varma denied any wrongdoing, claiming the store-room in question was not locked and was accessible to household staff.
He also emphasised that he was not in Delhi at the time of the fire and suggested the incident could be part of a “conspiracy to frame” him. Notably, no cash was formally seized.
In an unusual step toward transparency, the Supreme Court had earlier made public various documents related to the fire incident, including photos and videos showing charred currency notes.
