Supreme Court Rejects Plea to File Police Case Against Justice Yashwant Varma from whose House Cash was recovered

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a request to file a police case against Justice Yashwant Varma, a retired judge of the Delhi High Court, in connection with an incident where burnt bundles of cash were allegedly found at his residence in March.

The plea was filed by advocate Mathews Nedumpara and three others. They had asked the court to begin criminal proceedings against Justice Varma, claiming that an internal inquiry by the Supreme Court had found the allegations to be prima facie true (which means there was enough evidence at first glance to support the claims).

However, the Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, said it could not hear the plea. The judges pointed out that a report had already been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu. Since the petitioners had not made a formal request (representation) to either the PM or the President, the court said the plea could not be accepted.

“Before asking the court to pass a writ of mandamus (a legal order to compel a government authority to act), the petitioner must first approach the proper authorities,” the court said while rejecting the petition.

During the hearing, the court also told Mr. Nedumpara that neither the petitioner nor the judges knew the full contents of the internal committee’s report. The bench advised him to first approach the Prime Minister and President. If they do not act, the court said he could return.

This is not the first time the petitioners have approached the Supreme Court in this matter. In March, the same group had asked the court to scrap the in-house inquiry and start a police investigation instead. That plea was also dismissed as the internal proceedings were still going on at the time.

The controversy began on the night of Holi, March 14, when a fire broke out in the outhouse of Justice Varma’s bungalow in central Delhi. Firefighters who came to control the blaze reportedly found burnt bundles of cash, which led to public outcry and questions about the conduct of judges.

Following the incident, Justice Varma was transferred to the Allahabad High Court, his parent court. Initially, it was believed the transfer was related to the cash incident, but the Supreme Court later said the two were not linked.

To address public concerns and maintain transparency, the Supreme Court took an unusual step by making a Delhi High Court report public and forming an in-house inquiry committee. The panel included the Chief Justices of the Punjab & Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka High Courts.

The matter has raised important questions about the accountability of judges, the role of the Collegium system, and the need for a more transparent judiciary in India.