Justice Yashwant Varma Cash Controversy: Fire Incident, Police Under Probe, Phones Seized:

With the controversy over Justice Yashwant Varma’s unaccounted cash deepening, the focus has now shifted to the police officers and first responders who reported to his house during the fire incident. The controversy started after a Judge sitting in the Delhi High Court was found to have burnt cash in his possession. On the day the Chief of Fire Delhi attended the Supreme court appointed committee on the issue, they claimed that together with other junior officers who were stationed at Tughlaq Road on the night of 14th March, two senior ranked officers were present and they appear to have mutually colluded with a female who flirted with them. It has been reported they accompanied a fire where Justice Varma kept a storeroom that was burning. According to reports by Times of India, Mobile devices from 8 officers of the Delhi police have been confiscated & transferred to the forensic division over the discovery of uncovered cash, as per the officers speaking to PTI.

There might be crucial leads within the mobile devices of the police officers who arrived at the crime scene first. The higher authorities will sift through the information contained within the confiscated devices, including any potential annihilation of footage as well as messages.

In case any videos were captured, PTI has learned from a source that investigators will determine if any alterations have been made to them.

It is still under investigation whether some amount of money was taken out of the judges’ residence on the night of the fire, as some sources have suggested. A source shared with TOI, “Not all of the cash pile was destroyed. Only some of it was set on fire.”

These events will be reported to the three-judge probe panel. The panel is said to have captured the account of Atul Garg, the Fire Services Director of Delhi. He recorded his statement at the guest house in Chanakyapuri, Haryana where the scrutiny committee has positioned a temporary site. Committee members are reported to have requested information about the occurrence and the steps taken by the fire department to examine the situation.

Justice Yashwant Varma is currently entangled in controversy regarding an unaccounted sum of money said to be found in his house during a fire-fighting operation on March 14. Prior reports claimed that a fire began in a storeroom at Justice Varma’s bungalow on March 14 And both the bungalow and the storeroom are claimed to be private quarters for Justice Varma alone.

The row surrounding the cash “Discovery” is accompanied by the fact that Justice Varma claims he was out of state during the cash storeroom incident Furthermore, he firmly denies ever placing cash in the storeroom or any of his family's relatives ever doing so.

In follow up to this controversy, the apex court collegium along with the Delhi high court released several instructions, including withdrawing certain designated duties from Justice Varma which was put into effect this past Monday.

On this Same Monday, CJI Khanna instituted a internal group to carry out a investigation and ordered chief justice of D. K Uppadyaya to stop all judicial duties assigned to Justice Varma. Until new orders come in, Justice Varma has been kept on the bench without assigning him to any specific case.