'Cash at home case': Discrepancies found in Justice Yashwant Varma’s claims: report

New Delhi: A three-judge panel has found discrepancies between Justice Yashwant Varma’s statements and the evidence found at the site of fire in his official residence, The News Minute reported.

The internal judicial committee was set up by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on March 22, following the incident of fire at Varma’s residence on March 14, leading to discover sacks containing burnt currency.

The panel included Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court.

Following the controversial incident, Justice Varma who was the sitting judge of Delh High Court at the time, was repatriated to Allahabad High Court.

Back then, Varma claimed that anyone visiting his residence could access the room in which the currency was found.

The judicial panel however reportedly said that the room was not freely accessible.

As the panel forwarded its findings to President Droupadi Murmu and PM Modi, Justice Varma is highly likely to be removed from service, The News Minute reported citing The Leaflet.

The probe reportedly uncovered that not all the currency was destroyed in the fire.

It is however reported citing sources that the room was thoroughly cleaned later to stop assessing the exact amount was burnt, partially burnt and the currency left intact.

The ‘clean-up’ carried out in the room was viewed as part of an attempt to destroy vital evidence.

Senior lawyer Indira Jaisingh has sought that judicial panel’s findings should be made public, repeating her demand on May 5 upon the Supreme Court receiving the panel’s report a day earlier.

It is reported citing The Leaflet that the judicial panel reviewed if Justice Varma’s then Secretary involved in removing evidence.

Also, the testimonies by court staff, security personnel, and emergency responders after the panel interviewed them, raised concerns about the destruction of evidence post-incident, according to the report.

The Leaflet reported citing a source that ‘The panel has found that some unnamed person made several trips in private vehicles to clean the room and also move out the material, burnt and otherwise, from the scene of the incident. This led to a lot of unanswered questions’.

Meanwhile, the speculations about Justice Varma’s daughter-in-law having involved in removing evidence proved wrong after passport records confirmed that Varma’s daughter and her husband were not in the country at the time, TNM reported citing the Leaflet.