New twist in the case of fire in Justice Verma’s house, Supreme Court releases pictures, burnt notes found in sacks

There has been a new twist in the case of fire in Justice Yashwant Verma’s house and recovery of cash. On the orders of Chief Justice (CJI) Sanjeev Khanna, pictures and videos of Justice Verma’s house have been released. In this video, bundles of burnt notes are seen inside Justice Verma’s house.

Along with this, the report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay related to this case has also been made public. Justice Verma’s reply has also been made public. At the same time, the documents related to the case have also been put on the website.

Decision to make all records public

Actually, to present the court’s side in front of the public, the CJI had decided to make all the records related to this case public. Let us tell you that this is the first time in the history of the Supreme Court, when all the records related to the case have been made public.

Committee formed to investigate the allegations

Along with this, CJI Sanjeev Khanna has also constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations against Justice Verma. It includes Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of Karnataka High Court.

What is the whole matter?

In fact, the Supreme Court took a big step late on Saturday night and uploaded the entire internal investigation report of the case of alleged huge amount of cash found at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma of Delhi High Court on its website along with pictures and videos related to the incident. According to the report, Justice Verma has clearly stated that neither he nor any member of his family had ever kept any cash in the store room of the house and he denies that the alleged cash was his.

According to the investigation report of Chief Justice of Delhi High Court DK Upadhyay, four to five half-burnt bundles of Indian currency were found. The 25-page investigation report also includes videos and photographs of the operation to douse the fire at Justice Verma’s residence on Holi night, during which cash was recovered.

On examining the reported incident, the available material and Justice Yashwant Verma’s reply, Justice Upadhyay wrote, what I found is that the Commissioner of Police has stated in his report dated March 16 that according to the guard posted at Justice Yashwant Verma’s residence, debris and other partially burnt items were removed from the room where the fire broke out on the morning of March 15.

Need to investigate the matter

He wrote, my investigation prima facie does not reveal the possibility of entry or access to the room by any person other than the people living in the bungalow, domestic helpers, gardeners and CPWD personnel (if any). Justice Upadhyay said in the report prepared on March 21, “I am of the opinion that a thorough investigation of the entire matter is required. This report was made public on Saturday night.

The matter was raised in the Rajya Sabha

The matter was raised in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar had said that he would find a way to hold a systematic discussion on the issue. Congress’ Jairam Ramesh raised the issue and sought a response from the Chairman on judicial accountability and reminded about the pending notice regarding impeachment against a judge of the Allahabad High Court.

Who is Justice Verma?

According to the Delhi High Court website, Justice Verma was registered as an advocate on August 8, 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014. Before being appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021, he took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016. The Supreme Court has an internal investigation mechanism to deal with allegations against judges of constitutional courts.