Justice Yashwant Varma has reacted to the claim about the cash seizure from his official residence, stating neither he nor his family had any knowledge of the money. He called the accusations a conspiracy to frame and malign him.
In his reply to High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya in connection with the in-house probe initiated by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Varma also claimed that the store room where the money was said to be hoarded was not part of his official residence. The room, according to him, was used as a general dump room for disused articles and other sundry household articles.
He claimed that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by him or his family members while denouncing the suggestion that the cash belonged to him. "The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verges on the incredible and incredulous," he wrote.
Justice Varma repeated his claim that the store room is "completely disassociated" from his living areas and had a boundary wall demarcating it. "I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press," the judge said.
He went on to add in the reply that nobody present at the spot was shown any cash or currency. With regard to the video clip of the burnt money, Justice Varma said none of the money appears to have been recovered or seized. "The second aspect which I need to underscore is that none of the staff was shown any remnants of cash or currency that may have been present on site," his reply said.
He claimed that on the night of the accident, his wife and he were in Madhya Pradesh, leaving only their daughter and elderly mother at home. He returned to Delhi on March 15 via an Indigo flight from Bhopal. He said the calls to the Fire Department was made by his daughter and private secretary.
Justice Varma's reply comes as the Supreme Court on Saturday published the photos and video of the unaccounted currency seized from Justice Varma's residence, along with the inquiry report of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice and the response of Justice Varma. The video and the photos were shared by the Delhi Police with regard to the firefighting operation in Justice Varma's residence.
The video showed sacks containing cash currencies, some of which are burnt.
According to the report submitted by HC CJI Upadhaya, the incident happened on March 14 "in a storeroom where access to any person other than those residing in the official bungalow of Justice Varma was not there." The report added that he was informed about the cash by the Commissioner of Police Delhi on March 15 evening. The CJI then visited the spot of the incident in person with the Registrar of the High Court, where he met Justice Varma too.
During the meeting, Justice Varma is said to have reiterated the claim that the room was accessible to the servants, gardeners and sometimes even the CPWD personnel. When CJI Upadhyaya showed him the Whatsapp pictures sent by the Commissioner of Police, Justice Varma stated "apprehension about some conspiracy against him".