A VIDEO shared by the Supreme Court on March 22, which allegedly shows burnt cash in a store room in the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, a Delhi High Court Judge who has since been repatriated to Allahabad, has shocked the nation. The amount must run into crores from the looks of it. But it is established that there was a fire in his outhouse and his family and staff had called the police. Someone took video and pictures of the burnt cash being doused by the fire fighters and this has come into the public domain from none other than the head of the judiciary, the Chief Justice of India. The CJI has ordered an enquiry by three judges.
CJI Sanjiv Khanna’s decision to put redacted material on the Supreme Court’s website is welcome since it cleared some of the air. But the in-house inquiry committee may be somewhat premature since much investigation is required by the police and other investigative agencies to come to definitive conclusions.
This is critical since Justice Varma has stated that the money is not his. He is likely to reiterate this otherwise he would indict himself and be open to criminal prosecution. It is also likely that given the serious implications of this episode, the full truth may never come out.
Whatever the in-house committee’s conclusions, this episode is linked to illegality and black income generation. This link needs to be understood.
