Probe panel recommends impeachment of Justice Varma after burnt cash case
Follow TNM’s WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.A three-judge panel has recommended to the Chief Justice of India the impeachment of Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma in its probe report on the discovery of cash in the store room of his official residence.It was on March 14 this year that a fire that broke out at the store room of 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi, revealed the presence of bundles of cash in the official residence of the then Delhi High Court judge. Justice Varma denied any knowledge about the money, stating that the store room was distant from the main house and was not accessed by anyone in the family. On March 22, then Chief Justice of India Sanjay Khanna set up a three-member probe panel to look into the matter. Following this, Justice Varma was transferred back to his parent High Court at Allahabad, but was allotted any judicial work.The probe panel, consisting of Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Judge Anu Sivaraman, found “direct and electronic evidence” proving that there is “sufficient substance in the allegations” against Justice Yashwant Varma. “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,” the panel noted. According to a report in The Leaflet, the probe panel had focussed on three questions: “Whether burnt currency was found in the store room at 30 Tuglak Crescent, New Delhi: Yes; whether the store house is within the premises of 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi or not: Yes; and lastly, how Justice Varma accounts for presence of money/cash in the store room: He couldn’t.”The panel found that following the fire, burnt currency notes were removed from the store room in the early hours of March 15. Justice Varma was in Bhopal at the time of the fire. “It is established that the burnt cash/money was removed from the store room during the wee hours of 15.03.2025 from 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi,” the report said. “The factum of the burnt cash having been found in the store room was undeniably established and therefore, the burden shifted upon Justice Varma to account for the said cash/money by giving a plausible explanation,” the panel noted. It further explained, “Where presence of burnt cash in the store room is established, it is for Justice Varma to account for the same by either successfully raising a defence of planting of cash in the store room which he failed to do or proving the defence of conspiracy theory by adducing evidence/material that the money/cash did not belong to him but to someone else by disclosing the identity of the real owner of the cash. Not having done so, Justice Varma cannot be helped.”
Follow TNM’s WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
A THREE-judge panel has recommended to the Chief Justice of India the impeachment of Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma in its probe report on the discovery of cash in the store room of his official residence.
It was on March 14 this year that a fire that broke out at the store room of 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi, revealed the presence of bundles of cash in the official residence of the then Delhi High Court judge. Justice Varma denied any knowledge about the money, stating that the store room was distant from the main house and was not accessed by anyone in the family.
On March 22, then Chief Justice of India Sanjay Khanna set up a three-member probe panel to look into the matter. Following this, Justice Varma was transferred back to his parent High Court at Allahabad, but was allotted any judicial work.
The probe panel, consisting of Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Judge Anu Sivaraman, found “direct and electronic evidence” proving that there is “sufficient substance in the allegations” against Justice Yashwant Varma.
“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,” the panel noted.
According to a report in The Leaflet, the probe panel had focussed on three questions: “Whether burnt currency was found in the store room at 30 Tuglak Crescent, New Delhi: Yes; whether the store house is within the premises of 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi or not: Yes; and lastly, how Justice Varma accounts for presence of money/cash in the store room: He couldn’t.”
The panel found that following the fire, burnt currency notes were removed from the store room in the early hours of March 15. Justice Varma was in Bhopal at the time of the fire. “It is established that the burnt cash/money was removed from the store room during the wee hours of 15.03.2025 from 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi,” the report said.
“The factum of the burnt cash having been found in the store room was undeniably established and therefore, the burden shifted upon Justice Varma to account for the said cash/money by giving a plausible explanation,” the panel noted.
It further explained, “Where presence of burnt cash in the store room is established, it is for Justice Varma to account for the same by either successfully raising a defence of planting of cash in the store room which he failed to do or proving the defence of conspiracy theory by adducing evidence/material that the money/cash did not belong to him but to someone else by disclosing the identity of the real owner of the cash. Not having done so, Justice Varma cannot be helped.”
