There is no end to twists and turns in the case of cash found by firefighters at the residence of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma. After Delhi Fire Chief Atul Garg reportedly said that no cash was found at the judge’s house, now he has denied making that statement. He also said he does not know why fake news was being circulated in his name.
In response to an inquiry from IANS, Garg stated that he never told any media outlet that firefighters had reported no cash found at the scene. When asked why his name was being quoted in the reports, Garg replied, “I don’t know why,” adding that he had already sent a clarification to the media outlets carrying the statement.
The clarification comes after several media outlets including a media agency quoted Garg as saying that not a single penny was found after dousing the fire at the house of Justice Varma. A PTI report quoted Garg as saying, “Soon after dousing the flames, we informed the police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our firefighters did not find any cash during their firefighting operation.”
But now Garg has said that he has not made this statement. He said, “The statement being run by PTI is not my statement.”
Notably, the Supreme Court yesterday issued a press release denying reports that Collegium recommended the judge’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court due to the alleged incident. The top court said that the collegium has proposed to transfer him as a routine manner, it has not been finalised yet, and the transfer has no links with the alleged discovery of cash at his house. However, the court confirmed an in-house probe over the allegations.
It stated that the inquiry was commenced before the Collegium meeting on 20th March 2025, and the Delhi HC’s Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya will be submitting his report to the CJI Sanjiv Khanna.
