Supreme Court initiates in-house probe against Justice Yashwant Varma over cash pile recovery

Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.

The Supreme Court on Friday initiated an in-house probe against Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma after a huge pile of unaccounted cash was recovered from his residence after a fire broke out.

The top court has also sought a report from Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, sources told Bar and Bench.

A fire at the judge's house last week had inadvertently led to the recovery of cash by the firefighters.

After the information of unaccounted cash was received, CJI Sanjiv Khanna-led Supreme Court collegium decided to transfer Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court, from where he came to Delhi HC in October 2021.

However, at a full court meeting of all Supreme Court judges held on Friday morning, it was suggested that a punitive transfer will not be enough and some concrete action has to be taken against the judge, according to Bar and Bench.

The apex court, then, agreed unanimously to an in-house probe, with transfer being the first step.

Meanwhile, Justice Varma did not hold court today and his court staff revealed in open court that he was on leave.