'No cash found' at Justice Varma's residence, says Delhi Fire chief

Earlier in the day, media reports said a large stash of cash was recovered from Delhi HC Justice Yashwant Varma's residence during the course of fire-fighting a blaze at his residence

In the latest twist in the Justice Varma incident, Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg late on Friday said his department had not found any cash during a fire at the Delhi's judge's official residence while answering a fire call there.

 

  "Soon after dousing the flames, we informed police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our fire fighters did not find any cash during their fire fighting operation," the DFS chief said.

 

The fire department received a call about a blaze at Justice Varma's residence in Lutyens' Delhi at 11:35 p.m. on March 14. In response, two fire tenders were immediately sent to the location, Garg told PTI. The fire tenders arrived at the scene at 11:43 p.m. The fire had started in a storeroom filled with stationery and household items, and it took the fire fighters 15 minutes to bring the flames under control. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

 

 

Once the fire was extinguished, the fire department informed the police about the situation. After completing their duties, the fire department personnel left the site. Garg emphasised that no cash was found by the firefighters during their operation to control the blaze.

 

On Friday, the Supreme Court collegium began an initial inquiry into the incident after media reports claimed that large piles of cash had been recovered from Justice Varma's home in the course of fire-fighting. Taking cognisance of the allegations, the Supreme Court collegium met on Friday and proposed that Justice Varma be transferred back to his home court, the Allahabad HC.

 

Later in the day, a full-court Supreme Court meeting decided to institute an internal enquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma. However, the top court has also said that misinformation and rumours were being spread over the incident. It noted that the proposal for Justice Varma's transfer was independent and separate from in-house enquiry procedure.