Totally ‘preposterous,’ part of ’conspiracy’ to frame me: Justice Yashwant Varma denies cash recovery charges

Justice Yashwant Varma, the Delhi High Court Judge facing charges of stashing illicit cash at his residence has denied the allegations. Justice Varma is facing an in-house inquiry initiated by the Chief Justice of India after firefighters reportedly found piles of charred currency after dousing the flames.

The cash was discovered following a fire at Varma’s Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the Delhi fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse it.

In his response given to Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Justice DK Upadhyay, Justice Varma ‘unequivocally’ denied the allegations against him. He said neither he nor his family members ever placed cash in the storeroom and that the suggestion that this “cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous.”

Totally ‘preposterous’, ‘incredulous’

“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,” 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,’ he said adding that the room was completely disassociated from the living areas of the house.

Justice Varma said that 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.

Justice Varma said that the alleged cash discovered from the room was absent on the on the morning of March 15, a day after the fire incident. He also pointed out that even when the Chief Justice’s personal secretary visited the spot on March 15, no cash was found.

Videos part of conspiracy: Justice Varma

Justice Varma calls it “part of a conspiracy” to frame him and says that “certain unfounded allegations” were circulated against him on social media in December 2024 as well.

“Our cash withdrawals, made from time to time, are all documented and always through regular banking channels, the use of UPI applications and cards. Insofar as the allegation of the recovery of cash, I once again make it clear that no one from my house ever reported seeing any currency in burnt form in the room. In fact, this gets further corroborated from there being no cash or currency which we saw when the site was restored to us after the fire personnel and the police had left the scene quite apart from we being not apprised of any recovery or seizure which was made on the spot. This may also be viewed in light of the statement of the Chief of the Fire Service which I have gathered from news reports.”

Justice Varma said that he was shocked by pictures and video shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner with the Delhi High Court, which purportedly showed the presence of sacks of currencies in the middle of the fire.

“I was totally shocked to see the contents of the video since that depicted something which was not found on site as I had seen it. It was this which prompted me to observe that this clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign me. 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 [which too I had apprised you about during the course of our meeting] and your first reaction of the incident being that of arson,” Justice Varma said.

The High Court judge pointed out that even if the video was assumed to be genuine, the alleged cash had not been seized or recovered.

“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. I stand by my consistent position that when they accessed the storeroom, there was no currency, burnt or otherwise, which could be seen. I request you to bear in mind that the storeroom is removed from my residence and is used as a general dump room for disused articles and other sundry household articles. I wonder who would countenance an allegation that currency would be kept in a storeroom in a corner of the house and which is freely accessible from amongst others from the back wicker gate also.”

After examining the Delhi High Court Chief Justice’s report and Justice Varma’s response, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the matter.

The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has also been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Yashwant Varma.