Conspiracy, Preposterous: Justice Yashwant Varma Denies Allegations of Cash Recovery from His Residence

Conspiracy, Preposterous: Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge of the Delhi High Court who is facing an in-house inquiry initiated by the Chief Justice of India, has denied allegations of keeping illicit cash at his residence.

In his response given to Justice DK Upadhyay, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Varma said that there was a conspiracy to frame him. The response of Justice Varma, along with the report of Delhi HC CJ and the photos and video shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner, were made public by the Supreme Court on its website yesterday night.

“When the fire broke out around midnight, the fire service was alerted by my daughter and my private secretary, whose calls would be duly recorded. During the exercise to douse the fire, all staff and the members of my household were asked to move away from the scene of the incident in view of safety concerns. After the fire was doused and when they went back to the scene of the incident, they saw no cash or currency on site,” he said in a response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya.

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“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,” his letter to the HC Chief Justice said.

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. The very idea or suggestion that we kept or stored this cash is preposterous,” Justice Varma said. His response to the Delhi High Court, along with the High Court's report, photos and video shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner, were made public by the Supreme Court on its website on Saturday night.

“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, adding that the room was completely disassociated from the living areas of the house.

Justice Varma said that the room was generally utilised by all and sundry to store articles such as unused furniture and that it was unlocked and easily accessible.

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had asked High Court Chief Justice Upadhyaya to seek a written explanation from him.

CJI Khanna asked CJ Upadhyay to ask Justice Varma: “How does he account for the presence of money/cash in the room located in his premises… Explain the source of money/cash which was found in the said room”, and “who is the person who had removed the burnt money/cash from the room in the morning of March 15?”

“Please also ascertain the details of the official staff of the High Court Registry, the personal security officers and the security guards who are posted at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma during the last six months. Request letter may be sent to the mobile service provider(s) for providing call record details of the official or other mobile phone number(s) of Justice Yashwant Varma for the last six months,” the CJI’s communication said.

Justice Varma, in his response, said the store room in question “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…. news reports.”

“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 nor household staff were shown these so-called sacks of burnt currency,” he wrote.

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Referring to the video clip “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.”

“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. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. 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. It is a room which is completely disassociated from my living areas and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse,” he wrote.

Justice Varma said that when the HC CJ showed him the video clip for the first time, he was “totally shocked to see the contents… since that depicted something which was not found on site as I had seen it”.

He added that this had prompted him “to observe that this clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign” him and that “it also lends credence to my firm belief that the entire incident is part of a sequence of events which occurred in the recent past, including the unfounded allegations that circulated on social media in December 2024…”

He said that “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.”

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