Plea Seeks Police Probe Into Allegations of Cash Found at Delhi HC Judge’s Residence

Cash Found at Delhi HC Judge’s Residence: On Monday, March 24, 2025, a writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the police to register a First Information Report (FIR), and investigate allegations of "huge sums of unaccounted money" presently discovered in the official residential premises of a sitting Delhi High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, for January 30, after it caught fire during the evening of the night of March 14.

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This petition, filed by Supreme Court advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara, also challenges the jurisdiction of the three-member committee appointed by the Supreme Court to inquire into the affair.

The petition said the committee has no jurisdiction to investigate the incident. The responsibility fell on the police to effectively and meaningfully investigate the allegations.

“The three-member committee constituted by the Collegium has no jurisdiction to conduct an investigation into the incident that occurred on March 14 at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, where heaps of currency notes were by chance recovered in a fire constituting various cognisable offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The resolution of the Collegium investing the committee power to conduct such an investigation is rendered void ab initio inasmuch as the Collegium cannot confer jurisdiction upon itself to order so where the Parliament or the Constitution has conferred none,” Mr. Nedumpara, who is a petitioner-in-person, argued.

The petition urged the apex court to invoke its powers on the judicial side to prohibit the committee from interference with the sovereign policing function of the State to register and investigate a crime.

Mr. Nedumpara further requested the Supreme Court to revisit a Constitution Bench judgment of 1991 in the K. Veeraswami case, which held that there could be no registration of a criminal case against a High Court judge, Chief Justice of a High Court, or an Apex judge without prior consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

“Equality before law and equal protection of law is the core of our Constitution. All are equal before law and the criminal laws apply equally to all, irrespective of one’s status, position, etc. The only exception, nay immunity, in our constitutional scheme is extended to the President and the Governors, the sovereign who represents ‘we the people’. ‘Be ye never so high, the law is above you’,” the petition said.

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It said the judgement of 1991 fettered police and amounted to creating "special class of privileged men/women, provided immunity from penal laws of the land."

The petition stated that ordinary people were left with many questions concerning the fire incident and the alleged finding of money on March 14.

“Why was no FIR registered on March 14? Why were no arrests made? Why was the money not seized? Why was no mahazar prepared? Why was the criminal law not put in motion? Justice Varma in his explanation has stated that it is not his money, that he never kept any money, he is fully taken aback by it. Then why did he not report to the police and seek the registration of an FIR of an attempt to falsely implicate him,” Mr. Nedumpara asked in his petition.

The plea sought directions from the Supreme Court regarding the revival of the lapsed Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, aimed at curbing corruption in the judiciary.

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