Supreme Court Releases Full Report on Justice Yashwant Varma; Judge Denies Allegations, Calls Claims ‘A Conspiracy to Malign Me’
Kiran Raj
In a rare move, the Supreme Court of India has published a detailed report on its official website regarding allegations against Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Yashwant Varma. The report, submitted by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, includes related documents and Justice Varma’s complete response.
The Supreme Court stated that this step was taken to ensure transparency and prevent the spread of misinformation surrounding the case. The decision followed discussions held by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and senior judges of the Supreme Court Collegium, including Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath, who agreed on making the report public.
Justice Yashwant Varma, in his reply, denied the claims that unaccounted cash was recovered from his official residence. Referring to a video shown by the police chief, he stated, “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.”
Some sections of the report, including personal details, have been redacted for privacy reasons. According to Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya’s report, Justice Varma informed him that he was in Bhopal when the incident occurred, and that the information was conveyed to him by his daughter. “He then expressed some apprehension about some conspiracy against him,” the report noted.
Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna subsequently sought answers from Justice Varma to three questions:
- How does he explain the presence of cash in the premises?
- What is the source of the cash?
- Who removed the burnt cash from the room on the morning of March 15, 2025?
The Chief Justice of India also requested information about staff, security personnel, and personal security officers assigned to Justice Varma’s residence over the past six months. Instructions were given to preserve Justice Varma’s mobile phone data and to seek call detail records from mobile service providers. “The reply submitted by Justice Yashwant Varma, along with your comments, may be furnished to me immediately for further action,” read the directive.
Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya asked Justice Varma to respond before Saturday midnight, describing the incident as “very disturbing.”
In his reply, Justice Varma detailed that a fire had occurred on the night of March 14-15 in a storeroom near the staff quarters of his official residence. “This room was generally utilised by all and sundry to store articles such as unused furniture, bottles, crockery, mattresses, used carpets, old speakers, garden implements as well as CPWD material. This room is unlocked and accessible both from the official front gate as well as the backdoor of the staff quarters,” he stated. He added that the room was separate from the family’s living quarters and not part of the main house.
Justice Varma mentioned that neither he nor his wife were in Delhi at the time and were traveling in Madhya Pradesh, while his daughter and elderly mother were present at home. He returned to Delhi on March 15 from Bhopal.
He further wrote, “We have, since that fateful night, been continuously trying to find an explanation for the allegations which are being levelled... that presumption requires me to not only furnish an explanation with respect to the existence of an article allegedly present in a commonly used outhouse and general storeroom which was freely accessible but also requires me to ‘account’ for the same.”
Justice Varma questioned the absence of physical evidence: “What baffles me is the complete absence of any sacks of allegedly burnt currency which were ever recovered or seized.” He noted that his staff were never shown remnants of any cash, and the only materials cleared from the storeroom were debris and salvageable items.
He added, “No currency was recovered from the premises that we actually occupy and use as a family... In the life of a judge, nothing matters more than reputation and character. That has been severely tarnished and irreparably damaged.”
Senior advocate Harish Salve also commented on the situation, stating that the existing collegium system is “not equipped” to handle such sensitive matters. Salve mentioned that according to the Delhi fire chief, no cash was found at the judge’s bungalow, describing the situation as “odd and murky.”
Justice Varma, who began his legal career in August 1992, became a permanent judge in the Allahabad High Court in 2016 and was appointed to the Delhi High Court in October 2021, where he has been handling matters related to GST, sales tax, and company appeals.
The Supreme Court clarified that the recent recommendation to transfer Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court is unrelated to the current inquiry. The in-house probe is being conducted separately under existing judicial procedures. The Court attributed the confusion to false narratives linking the two developments.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that the matter will proceed according to established processes, with an emphasis on transparency and procedural fairness.
[Read/Download Report]
