Crime Today News
The Union law ministry on Friday announced the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court amid allegations that unaccounted cash was found at his home.
The Supreme Court Collegium had on Monday recommended that Varma be repatriated to the Allahabad High Court, which is his parent High Court. However, it emphasised that the action was unrelated to an internal investigation regarding the discovery of cash at Varma’s house, The Hindu reported.
Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking the registration of a first information report against Varma. Calling the petition “premature”, the bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the ongoing in-house inquiry would offer several options once it concluded.
Unaccounted cash was allegedly recovered at Varma’s official residence when emergency services responded to a fire there on March 14. The judge said he was in Bhopal at the time and claimed that the cash did not belong to him or his family.
On March 22, the Supreme Court released a report including a video and three photographs showing bundles of notes that were allegedly recovered from the judge’s home. The court had also set up a three-member committee to look into the allegations against Varma.
The redacted report showed that Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya had written to Varma on March 21, asking him to “account for the presence of money/cash” in a room located in his bungalow.
Six High Court bar associations on Thursday met Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and urged him to revoke the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation for the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court, Bar and Bench reported.
The representatives of the bar associations also demanded that a criminal investigation be initiated against Varma. The heads of the bar associations of Allahabad, Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur), Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala met Khanna on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association began an indefinite strike against the proposal. Tiwari said the Allahabad High Court was “being considered as a dumping ground”.
Also read: Why Indian judges enjoy de facto impunity when it comes to corruption allegations
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