Journalists asks serious questions on the credibility of the probe in DHC judge’s seizure of unaccounted money

The sensational incident of seizure of unaccounted illegal cash from the bungalow of the Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Verma when his family was constrained to call the police and fire brigade due to the house catching fire in which some of the wads of currency notes were also burnt and the judge subsequently transferred to Allahabad court as punishment several questions are being raised by several journalists and people active in social media as to whether the law enforcing agencies involved in this investigation are really doing justice to the probes or just trying the coverup despite the matter being so serious and involving a high court justice. Questions are being raised about the transparency and integrity of the judiciary and subsequently about the prime agencies investigating this case.

According to the Constitution the Judges are granted special privileges and as such as per constitutional norms an in-house procedure was created by the Supreme Court in 1999 to inquire into allegations of corruption, irregularity or misconduct against any High Court or Supreme Court judge.

Under this procedure, the Chief Justice first seeks an explanation from the concerned judge. If the reply is not satisfactory or the matter requires a deeper investigation, he may constitute an in-house inquiry committee consisting of a judge of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of two High Courts.

In the case of Delhi High Court justice Yashwant Verma the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna in a hurry had to take a unanimous decision to transfer Justice Verma immediately.

Some say : Just transferring Justice Verma will tarnish the image of the judiciary and may weaken the public’s faith in the judicial system.

Meanwhile, according to a journalist Rohini Singh disclosing some startling facts about the Justice Yashwant Varma scandal says that only a fair CBI inquiry can bring out the truth and the role of all those who have tried to cover it up. She wrote on X :

1) The son of a media editor was reportedly his biggest tout. Will the role of this person also be investigated?

2) Has the police made a seizure memo of the currency allegedly discovered at the judge’s house? If not why wasn’t it done and why is the case being deliberately weakened?

3) Is it true that a senior officer from the local police showed Justice Varma the video recorded of the cash on his phone? Is it true that the original recording of the burning cash deleted from the phones of the fire men who recorded the video?

4) Which officer from the local police got the video deleted from mobile phones of the firemen? Why haven’t the statement of the firemen been taken who recorded the video of the burning cash?

5) Has the police seized the original device on which the video of the burning wades of note purportedly recorded ? Asked journalist Rohini Singh in X.

Another news anchor n senior journalist of News 24 Manak Gupta wrote on X : A huge amount of cash has been found at the house of Delhi High Court judge Shri Yashwant Verma…and the Supreme Court has decided to send him back to Allahabad High Court So the story is that a fire broke out in the judge’s government bungalow in Delhi, the judge was out of town…even though he didn’t want to…the family had to call the fire brigade to save their lives…the police also came. During this time, a whole room of the judge was found filled with cash. There was chaos, the matter reached the top level of the government through the top police officials… from there CJI Sanjeev Khanna was informed… The Supreme Court Collegium sentenced Justice Yashwant Verma to be sent back to Allahabad HC. Now the question is, will a case not be filed against the judge even if he is caught red handed? Are judges above the law even in corruption cases? Will the Supreme Court Collegium wash its hands of the matter by simply transferring the matter? Will Justice Yashwant Verma continue to sit in the temple of justice (Allahabad High Court) and deliver ‘justice’ even after being caught with cash?