Cash discovery row: Large piles of currency notes found in Justice Varma’s gutted storeroom, says Inquiry committee report

Inquiry committee finds cash in gutted storeroom at judge's residence, leading to potential removal motion in Parliament.

An in-house inquiry committee constituted by the Chief Justice of India concluded that cash was found in the gutted storeroom at the official residential premises of High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, and police and fire authorities were “slipshod” in not lodging an FIR or preparing a seizure memo recording exactly what they came across at the scene of the fire on March 14-15.

The committee said the “higher police officials” had sought to explain their inaction by pointing to reasons like the “sensitivity of the issue” and the absence of Justice Varma at his residence at the time of incident. Justice Varma and his wife were in Bhopal on a holiday trip on the night of the fire.

The report of the three-judge committee of May 3 was shared in the public domain by the legal website ‘The Leaflet’ on Wednesday (June 19, 2025).

The report had been confidentially forwarded to the President and the Prime Minister by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, days before he retired on May 13, after Justice Varma refused to voluntarily resign from office.

A removal motion against Justice Varma is expected to be introduced in the Parliament during the Monsoon Session scheduled in July.

The report of the committee, comprising Justices Sheel Nagu, GS Sandhawalia and Anu Sivaraman, concluded that Justice Varma and his family members were in “covert or active control” of access into the storeroom where stacks of half-burnt cash was found.

“The storeroom, which was used for keeping unused domestic items and liquor cabinets, was under the physical control of Justice Varma and his family members and, therefore, any suspicious item found in the storeroom will have to be accounted for by Justice Varma or his family members,” the report said.