Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma on Saturday claimed that that the accusations of cash discovery at his residence are part of a conspiracy to frame and malign him..In a reply written to the High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya on March 22, Justice Varma also clarified that the fire, which led to the alleged discovery, had broken out at an outhouse in the compound used as a general dump room for disused articles and other sundry household articles and not in the main residence building."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. I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press," the judge said. Pertinently, he also disputed the claims of cash recovery and seizure from the site of the fire and pointed out that nobody present at the spot was shown any cash or currency recovered."That takes me to the video clip which has been shared with me. 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. The second aspect which I need to underscore is that none of the staff was shown any remnants of cash or currency that may have been present on site," his reply said.However, a security guard is stated to have told the authorities that debris and other partially burnt items were removed from the room on the morning of March 15. In his response to the allegation, Justice Varma said,"I also strongly deny and outrightly reject the insinuation, if made, that we removed currency from the storeroom. As stated above, we were neither shown nor handed over any sacks of burnt currency. In fact, and as stated above, the limited debris which was sought to be salvaged continues to exist in one part of the residence. As stated above, I and along with my wife returned from Bhopal on Indigo Flight No. 6E 2303 only on the evening of 15 March 2025 Therefore, the question of its alleged removal is not known to us. In any event none of my staff removed any article, currency or cash in any form."The reply was filed after the Delhi High Court Chief Justice sought his response pursuant to an in-house probe initiated by the Chief Justice of India.A fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 had inadvertently led to the recovery of unaccounted cash by the fire fighters, as per media reports.The Supreme Court Collegium had then decided to repatriate Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court.The CJI also initiated an in-house probe into the allegations pursuant to which the Delhi High Court Chief Justice sought Justice Varma's explanation..In his reply, Justice Varma stated that he was shocked to see the video shared by the Commissioner of Police since what was depicted in it was not found on the site as seen by him.In this regard, he specifically emphasised on the report dated March 16 submitted by Registrar cum Secretary to Delhi High Court Chief Justice. The Registrar cum Secretary was one of the first persons to visit the spot on the evening of March 15 after the fire broke out and his report does not mention of any cash recovery at the fire site.Alluding to the same, Justice Varma said:"You had thereafter requested for the PPS to be permitted to visit the site and to which I had readily agreed. The PPS arrived later that night and 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 (PPS) which has been provided to me. Post that inspection and on your instructions, the gutted room remains in that state even today." Justice Varma also specifically said there was no recovery of any burnt cash as claimed."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," his reply stated.Alleging a conspiracy against him, he also referred to the social media posts about an FIR registered against him and others in 2018 by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The present incident seems to be part of the sequence of events in the recent past to frame and malign him, the reply said. "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. It was the lack of knowledge of connection with the purported discovery of currency is what prompted my reaction in our first interaction in respect of this episode and when I had alluded to a conspiracy to frame me," Justice Varma said..In conclusion, Justice Varma denied all the allegations, saying no one from his house had reported seeing any currency in the burnt form in the room where fire broke out on intervening night of March 14-15 and that police had left the scene without informing about any recovery or seizure."I unequivocally state that neither I nor any of my family members had stored or kept any cash or currency in that storeroom at any point of time. 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.".Commenting on how the allegations and the incident has affected him, Justice Varma said,"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."He added that the incident has scarred his reputation built over more than a decade as a Judge of a High Court, and it has left him with no means to defend myself. Therefore, Justice Varma also called for an inquiry into his functioning as a judge."I would also beseech you to bear in consideration that in all my years as a Judge of a High Court, no such allegation had ever been made in the past nor any doubt cast on my integrity. In fact, I would be grateful if an enquiry is made with respect to my functioning as a judge and what is the perception of the legal fraternity with regard to my integrity and honesty in the discharge of my judicial functioning.".[Read report and Justice Varma's response]
