Cash Row: Panel Finds Ex-Judge Yashwant Varma Guilty

New Delhi, August 12, 2026 Former Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma has come under renewed scrutiny after a parliamentary committee concluded that he failed to satisfactorily explain the presence, source and ownership of a large quantity of cash recovered from his official residence. The findings, presented in Parliament on Wednesday, have intensified the controversy surrounding the incident and raised fresh questions over both the cash and the handling of evidence. A fire broke out at Varma’s official residence at 30, Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi, on the night of March 14, 2025. Firefighters responding to the blaze allegedly discovered large quantities of burnt currency in a storeroom. The committee stated, "Large quantities of unexplained Rs 500 currency notes were found in a storeroom inside the official residence at 30, Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi. The judge failed to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding the presence, source and ownership of the cash, the committee has stated in its report." The panel also criticised the manner in which the evidence was preserved after the recovery. It said, "Material evidence was not properly secured or preserved. The evidentiary condition of the storeroom was disturbed before lawful sealing and inspection," the report has said. The report further stated that the "subsequent disappearance/non availability of the currency notes remains unexplained". It blamed the "failure to preserve evidence" and the disturbance of the storeroom by staff attached to the premises for the loss of material evidence. Varma was later repatriated from the Delhi High Court to his parent court, the Allahabad High Court, following the controversy. Parliament subsequently initiated removal proceedings against him, but he has since resigned, rendering those proceedings virtually infructuous. The committee’s findings have nevertheless placed the cash recovery episode firmly back in focus, particularly over the unexplained currency and questions surrounding the preservation of key evidence.