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Informist, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – More than a year after a huge amount of cash was recovered from former Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma's residence after a fire broke out there, an inquiry committee has found him guilty in the case. Substantial unexplained INR 500 denomination currency notes were found in the storeroom of judge Varma situated within the official residential premises at New Delhi, the committee said in the report. Judge Varma had failed to furnish a satisfactory explanation regarding the presence, source or ownership thereof, said the report. The report has been tabled in the Lok Sabha. 

 

It is proved that material evidence was not secured or preserved and the evidentiary condition of the storeroom was disturbed before lawful sealing and inspection, said the report. The later non-availability of the currency notes remains unexplained, the report said. The finding rests on failure to preserve, acquiescence in disturbance through the establishment attached to the premises, and resulting loss of material evidence, and not upon proof of personal physical removal by the judge, it said. 

 

"The currency was seen. It was not preserved. The storeroom was not sealed immediately. Cleaning activity occurred after the first responders had left. The material was not later available," said the report. No satisfactory explanation has been furnished by the judge as to how currency notes seen by several official witnesses disappeared or became unavailable, it said. It is admitted that the judge was in touch with not only his daughter but also his private secretary and household staff. The inference is that they have acted at the instance of the Judge under his instructions to remove the money, it said.

 

The report said that it is proved that the explanation furnished by judge Varma, particularly his reply and the subsequent stand taken, did not exhibit the candour, transparency and institutional responsibility expected in the circumstances. It remained evasive and unsatisfactory when tested against the evidence of independent witnesses and corroborative material, said the report. 

 

The committee said that the explanation furnished by the judge was evasive, incomplete and misleading in effect. It was evasive because it did not engage with the central circumstance of substantial currency notes seen by independent officials inside the storeroom, said the panel. It was incomplete because it did not disclose the factual steps allegedly taken by him, the details of inquiries made, the answers received from staff or household members, or any action taken to preserve the site or complain of foul play, it said. It was misleading in effect because the earliest broad denial gave way to successive alternative hypotheses, none of which was substantiated when opportunity to lead defence evidence was available, it said.

 

The earliest reply by judge Varma was not merely "I do not know", said the report. He also asserted that no cash was seen by family or staff after the fire and that no staff member had removed any article, currency notes or cash, it said. Later, his defence shifted to non-seizure, absence of quantification, electronic deficiencies, first responder handling, conspiracy, planting, and possible staff involvement, it said. Such expansion of defence may be permissible as a matter of legal strategy, but it cannot substitute a candid factual explanation, it said.

 

The panel said that the judge was undoubtedly entitled to say that the currency notes did not belong to him and that he had no knowledge of it. But, where substantial currency notes are found within official premises under his institutional charge, the explanation expected is not exhausted by a bare denial, it said. The explanation must reasonably engage with the presence of currency notes, its possible source, the persons who had access, the circumstances in which it could have been placed, and the steps taken to ascertain the truth after the fact came to light, it said. However, no such satisfactory explanation has been furnished, it said. The defence of conspiracy or planting remains unsubstantiated, it said. No person has been identified and no occasion of entry has been established, it added.

 

In May 2025, a three-member in-house committee appointed by the Supreme Court had submitted its report to then chief justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, following its investigation into allegations that a large amount of cash was found at Justice Varma's residence after a fire broke out there. Thereafter, former chief justice Khanna recommended to the president to initiate removal proceedings against him.

 

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had in August 2025, formed a three-member panel to probe Justice Varma. The panel comprised Supreme Court Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior advocate B.V. Acharya. Accepting the motion signed by 146 members of Parliament for the removal of Justice Varma, Birla had said, "The committee will submit its report as early as possible." 

 

In April, judge Varma resigned from the Allahabad High Court. In his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Justice Varma said, "While I do not propose to burden your august office with the reasons which have constrained me to submit this missive, it is with deep anguish that I hereby tender my resignation from the office of Judge of the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect."  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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