The Justice Yashwant Varma controversy has taken a new turn as a fresh 24th March Delhi High Court cause list (calendar of pending court cases) shows him leading the bench. Notably, the judicial work that was previously under his purview was withdrawn following the discovery of unaccounted cash at his residence on 14th March following a fire incident, reported India Today. Some cases are reportedly still listed under him, despite the order to deroster him.
Despite CJI order of derostering Judge Varma, HC Causelist shows him heading bench. @SrishtiOjha11 gets us more details. #JusticeVarma #YashwantVarma #ITVideo #FirstUp | @poojashali pic.twitter.com/rWMlbnb3Yq
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 24, 2025
According to media reports, this could be an administrative issue as such schedules are sometimes set at least a week in advance and it could be the reason behind Justice Varma’s name on the list. Meanwhile, the proposal of transferring him to the Allahabad High Court is still under consideration.
On the other hand, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna instructed Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya to refrain from giving Justice Varma any judicial work and formed an internal committee to carry out an investigation. The three-member panel comprises of Justices Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), G S Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court) and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman.
The Supreme Court of India released several documents related to the case, along with a few photographs and a video clip showing burnt and half-burnt currency notes. Notably, the videos of the burnt cash, which formed a crucial piece of evidence, were initially shared with senior officials. Later on, after the videos reached all the stakeholders, instructions were issued from within the police department to delete all the videos keeping an original copy and to prevent them from circulating. Multiple agencies were present at the scene during the fire incident like the fire department, police, NDMC, CPWD etc, and several personnel made videos. However, when the videos were sent to higher officials, they were instructed to delete them.
Furthermore, Justice Varma was named in an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Prevention of Corruption Act and an ECIR filled by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in an alleged fraud committed by Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd. Before his elevation as a judge to the Allahabad High Court in October 2013, Justice Varma was a non-executive director of the company whose accounts were reported as a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2012. By 2015, the Sambhaoli Sugars case was declared a ‘suspected fraud’ case and was reported to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
An investigation was launched by the CBI in February 2018 against Sambhaoli Sugars based on a complaint filed by the Oriental Bank of Commerce. The bank had accused the company of misappropriating ₹97.85 crore of loan amount which was supposed to go to farmers. The company allegedly diverted the funds for other purposes. The CBI FIR mentioned the names of 12 accused including the name of Justice Varma as a non-executive director of the company.
However, the investigation in the case stalled and no significant action was taken in the case for a long time. In February 2024, the case was reignited after a court ordered the CBI to resume the investigation. However, the court order was overturned by the Supreme Court leading to the closure of the CBI’s preliminary inquiry (PE) in the case.
