Judicial panel begins inquiry into cash discovery row

The Supreme Court-appointed in-house committee on Tuesday commenced its inquiry into the alleged cash discovery row involving Delhi high court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, sources said.

- Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI:

They said the three members -- Justice Sheel Nagu, chief justice of the high court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, chief justice of the high court of Himachal Pradesh, and Anu Sivaraman, judge of the high court of Karnataka -- reached Justice Varma's official residence at 30, Tughlak Crescent in New Delhi.

The judges were inside the official residence of Justice Varma for around 30-35 minutes and apparently inspected the site, sources said.

The alleged cash discovery took place following a fire at Justice Varma's official residence here at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the fire officials to rush to the spot and douse it. On March 22, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations against Justice Varma.

Justice Varma strongly denounced the allegations and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.

In his response submitted to Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, Justice Varma said the allegations of cash discovery at his residence clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign him.