Cash found after fire at judge's house: In-house inquiry procedure enters second stage

With Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituting a three-member panel to probe the discovery of "four to five semi-burnt sacks" of Indian currency notes after a fire at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma, the in-house procedure has entered the crucial second stage whose findings will decide the fate of the judge.

The fire at the storeroom of the official residence of Justice Varma on March 14 in posh Lutyens' Delhi locality purportedly led to the discovery of the cash by firefighters and police personnel.

The CJI constituted the three-member panel after the Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya in his report dated March 21 and made public on Saturday evening called for a "deeper probe" into the allegations.

The three-member inquiry committee formed by the CJI consists of Justices Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), GS Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court) and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman.

However, no timeline has been fixed for the inquiry committee to conclude the probe.

The 25-page inquiry report of Justice Upadhyaya, uploaded on the apex court's website, contains two short notes in Hindi that mention that after the fire at the storeroom of Justice Varma's residence was doused, four to five half-burnt sacks containing currency notes were found. The report said prima facie, it seemed that a short-circuit had led to the fire.

The video, also shared by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora with Justice Upadhyaya, clearly shows burnt cash and firefighters dousing the flames.

Justice Varma has, in his response, strongly denounced the allegations and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.