HC refuses to entertain plea for FIR, CBI probe against Justice Yashwant Varma

Videos purportedly showing bundles of currency notes burning surfaced in 2025 when a fire broke out at his official residence

The Delhi high court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking a first information report (FIR) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of the discovery of unaccounted cash at the official residence of former Allahabad high court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, calling the plea a “wild witch hunt.”

Justice Yashwant Varma resigned in April while the parliamentary inquiry was underway.

A bench of Justice Amit Bansal permitted the petitioner, advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, to withdraw his petition for registration of an FIR and constitution of a special investigation team to probe the alleged recovery in Delhi in March 2025. The court said that Upadhyay had an alternate remedy and no locus to file the petition. “You have nothing better to do? I am dismissing it,” the bench told Upadhyay.

Upadhyay said that neither a magistrate nor a special court is competent enough to do “justice” with the matter.

Standing counsel Premtosh Kumar Mishra, who represented the government, CBI and Delhi Police, argued that Upadhyay had no locus and that an alternative remedy was available to him. He pointed out that he had approached the Supreme Court seeking similar relief, but the petition was dismissed without granting him liberty to approach the high court.

Videos purportedly showing bundles of currency notes burning surfaced when a fire broke out at Justice Varma’s official residence while he was serving as a judge of the Delhi high court. Justice Varma and his wife were travelling in Madhya Pradesh at the time, while his daughter and elderly mother were at the residence.

Justice Varma maintained that neither he nor any member of his family had placed money at the site.

The then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member in-house inquiry committee to examine the allegations. The panel submitted its report in May 2025, finding Justice Varma’s explanation unsatisfactory.

CJI Khanna asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings. He forwarded the inquiry report along with Justice Varma’s response to the President and the Prime Minister, recommending initiation of the constitutional process for his removal. This came after Justice Varma declined to step down.

Justice Varma was repatriated to his parent Allahabad high court, and judicial work was withdrawn from him pending further action.

The Lok Sabha admitted a motion for removal proceedings in Parliament in 2025 and constituted an inquiry committee. The Rajya Sabha declined to admit a parallel motion citing procedural infirmities. Justice Varma resigned in April while the parliamentary inquiry was underway.

In August, the three-member inquiry committee found that Justice Varma’s explanation regarding unaccounted currency at his official residence was “evasive” and “misleading”.