Justice Yashwant Varma controversy: The unanswered questions

In an unprecedented development, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday night made public a preliminary inquiry report on the allegations of discovery of unaccounted cash at Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence..Since then, theories are abound. Was there a conspiracy against a judge considered upright and competent by the Bar? Or is Justice Varma really in the wrong? Whatever the truth may be, there is no denying that the judiciary is under scrutiny now and it is the public’s turn to grill the judges.The disclosed documents, including the report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Varma’s response, have raised numerous questions that demand answers. The panel set up by the CJI must act swiftly to ensure a logical end to the case – in the interests of justice and the Indian judiciary..A fire at an outhouse of Justice Varma’s residence on the evening of March 14 allegedly led to discovery of large amounts of cash.Justice Varma has claimed a conspiracy to frame and malign him. A purported video of the incident showing burning cash is viral on the internet.A Committee of two Chief Justices and a High Court judge has been constituted to inquire into the incident. Meanwhile, Justice Varma's judicial work has been withdrawn.Who removed the debris and on whose instructions?A security guard posted at the residence of Justice Varma is stated to have revealed that some debris and half burnt articles were removed on the morning of March 15. The question that must be asked is on whose instructions were they removed? And where are they now?According to a police report made public by the CJI, four to five half-burnt sacks containing “remains of Indian currency were found in the said room” after the fire was brought under control. Why was the room not properly sealed in case of such suspicious discovery? Pertinently, the security guard’s statement does not make any specific mention of the removal of any currency. .Was it removed the same night or in the morning?In his response to the allegations, Justice Varma has said that after the fire was doused, when his family and staff were allowed to go to the scene of the incident, they did not see any cash at the site. This has led Justice Varma to question the authenticity of the video in circulation and also any recovery of money having been made. Why was the money not shown to the family members or staff soon after the incident? What is clear is that the money was not there on the evening of March 15, as reported by Registrar-cum-Secretary to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice. The Secretary’s report makes a mention about the presence of burnt articles in the room, when he visited the place of incident at 9:10 PM on March 15, but does not specifically touch the aspect of any currency..Why is the Secretary's report silent on the nature of debris at the spot?The Secretary of Delhi High Court Chief Justice had visited the outhouse in presence of Justice Yashwant Varma. The Secretary's report makes mention of the presence of burnt articles/debris at the spot. Interestingly, this contradicts the security guard's statement that the articles/debris were removed in the morning of March 15 itself."On reaching there, I found out that it was complete dark inside the room and the walls had developed cracks. We all took out our mobile phones and switched on the torch to have a look inside the room. We saw all the walls were blacked out due to fire and some material was hanging from the roof and half burnt articles were lying there and burnt articles/debris were lying on the floor. After spending 8-10 minutes in the room, we all came out," the report states.Importantly, the report does not address anything related to the money or its remnants, a fact which Justice Varma has also cited in his defence in his reply to the Chief Justice."When I, my PS along with the PPS inspected the gutted room, no currency was either found nor was any cash in any state seen present on site. This also stands corroborated from the report of which has been provided to me. Post that inspection and on your instructions, the gutted room remains in that state even today," the judge's response reads. .The obvious question - who stores money in an outhouse?Denying that he or his family members had kept the cash at the storeroom, Justice Varma in his response has said,"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."This argument would assume significance considering the claim that the outhouse was open to all and located near the guard room. Why would an individual retain or store funds like that, particularly given that a few months prior, certain social media users had unexpectedly circulated information regarding his involvement in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case dating back to 2018? Justice Varma would certainly ask this in his defence during the inquiry since he has already denied any connection with the burnt money. .Has the phone which took the videos been seized for preservation of evidence?The most clinching evidence in the entire case is the purported video of the incident and it is obvious that there exists more than one video of the burning site. The videos would have been taken mostly by the officials of the Delhi Police and the Delhi Fire Department.Since the videos would be of paramount importance, have the mobile phones with which they were taken been seized to preserve evidence? Even as the call detail records (CDR) of the past six months of Justice Varma’s phone were preserved, there appears to have been no direction from the CJI or High Court Chief Justice for preservation of these mobile phones.Justice Varma already seems to be questioning the authenticity of the video. The language used by him in his response is telling.“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,” he told the Chief Justice in response..Why did it take the police over 17 hours to inform the Chief justice of Delhi High Court?The fire broke out on March 14 at 11:30 PM. It was only at 4:50 PM on March 15 that the Commissioner of Police Sanjay Arora called the High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya. What Arora disclosed to the Chief Justice is redacted in the latter’s report but it was enough for him to speak to the CJI and start making enquiries. Why was there so much delay in informing the Chief Justice since the Commissioner of Police already had a video of cash discovery in his possession? Pertinently, it was during this time that the debris was allegedly removed from the outhouse..Where is the CCTV footage of Justice Varma’s residence?Justice Varma in his response has stated that the room was accessible to the house help and sometimes even to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) personnel. The store room, where the fire broke out, is stated to be adjacent to the guard room. where Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is posted. As per Justice Varma, apart from staff, only his daughter and aged mother were present at the home when the fire broke out.Since Justice Varma has alleged a conspiracy behind the entire episode, it would have to be probed whether it was merely a simple case of fire caused by short-circuit.The CCTV footage of the residence would be an important piece of evidence to piece together the happenings of that night and the next morning. One can only hope that the digital record has been seized and has not vanished like it happens in police stations when cases of torture and illegal custody are brought to the fore.