Four to five sacks of burnt currency notes found at Justice Varma’s residence: Inquiry report

Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya after completing his “in-house inquiry” into the unaccounted cash found in “four to five sacks” at the official residence of Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma concluded that the matter “warrants a deeper probe”.



Read More: "Preposterous, incredulous, unfounded" insinuations levelled against me: Justice Yashwant Varma's response


The inquiry report and correspondence exchanged between Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Delhi Chief Justice was made public by the Supreme Court on its website late Saturday night.

The report and other documents uploaded by the Supreme Court reveal that the Delhi Police Commissioner had shared three photographs and a video showing four to five sacks of burnt currency notes lying at one of the rooms of Justice Varma’s official residence.

Justice Varma was shown the same by Chief Justice to seek his response. The report says that Justice Varma after watching the said pictures and videos “expressed some apprehension about some conspiracy against him”.

The Delhi Chief Justice also informed the Chief Justice of India that “on examining the incident reported, the material available and the response of Justice Yashwant Varma, what I find is that the Commissioner of Police in his report dated March 16 has reported that as per the guard posted at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, the debris and other partially burnt articles were removed from the room where the fire had broken out in the morning of March 15”.

The Delhi Chief Justice further informed the CJI that that the enquiry conducted by him “prima facie, does not reveal possibility of entry or access to the room by any person other than those residing in the bungalow, the servants, the gardeners and CPWD personnels, if any”.

The CJI took a serious view of the incident and on March 21 wrote to the Delhi Chief Justice asking him to ask Justice Varma to provide the following information: Firstly, “how does he (Justice Varma) account for the presence of money/cash in the room located in his premises? Explain the source of money/cash which was found in the said room”.

The CJI also sought to know “who is the person who had removed the burnt money/cash from the room in the morning of March 15, 2025?”

Significantly, the CJI also sought to “ascertain the details of the official staff of the High Court Registry, the personal security officers and the security guards who are posted at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma during the last six months”.

The CJI further wrote in his correspondence on March 21 that “Request letter may be sent to the Mobile Service Provider(s) for providing call record details of the official or other mobile phone number(s) of Justice Yashwant Varma for the last six months”.

Also, the CJI asked the Delhi Chief Justice to request Justice Yashwant Varma “to not dispose of his mobile phone(s) or delete or modify any conversation, messages or data from his mobile phone(s)”.

Seeking Justice Varma’s response, the Delhi Chief Justice wrote to him on March 21 that the reported incident is “very disturbing”. In his detailed response submitted to the Delhi Chief Justice, Justice Varma submitted that “the very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous”.