Supreme Court releases video of inside Justice Yashwant Verma’s house, 4-5 sacks of half burnt notes

New Delhi. The first picture of inside the house of Delhi High Court judge Justice Verma has come out. Burnt notes are clearly visible in the pictures. A committee has been formed to investigate where so much cash came from in the house of Justice Yashwant Verma of Delhi High Court. But before that the first picture of inside his house has come out. The pictures have been released by the Supreme Court on its website.

A report issued with this said, ‘After the fire was brought under control in the room where the fire had started, 4-5 half-burnt sacks were found, inside which remains of Indian currency were found.’ Along with this, the report of the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court related to this case has been made public and along with it the reply of Justice Verma has also been made public. Documents related to the case have also been put on the website.

Statement of the Supreme Court
In the press release issued on the website of the Supreme Court, it has been said, ‘The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations against the current judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Yashwant Verma, which includes Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia of Himachal Pradesh High Court and Justice Anu Sivaraman of Karnataka High Court. The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Yashwant Verma for the time being. The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has submitted his report.’

What did the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court say
The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court said- ‘I contacted Justice Verma, who met me on 17.3.2025 at around 8.30 am at the Delhi High Court Guest House, where I am currently staying. Justice Verma replied that the room in which the fire broke out only contained some furniture and unusable household items like mattresses etc. He also told that servants, gardeners and sometimes CPWD employees could also come and go in the room. He also told me that he was in Bhopal at the time of the incident and he got this information from his daughter. Justice Verma further told me that at present there is black burnt substance (soot) lying in the room. After this I showed him the pictures and videos on my WhatsApp, which the Police Commissioner had already sent to me. After this he suspected a conspiracy against him.’

The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court further said, ‘On examining the incident report, available material and the reply of Justice Yashwant Verma, I found that the Commissioner of Police in his report dated 16.3.2025 has stated that according to the guard posted at Justice Yashwant Verma’s residence, debris and other partially burnt items were removed from the room in which the fire broke out on the morning of 15.3.2025. The investigation conducted by me does not prima facie reveal whether any person other than the people living in the bungalow, servants, gardeners and CPWD personnel (if any) had entered the room or not. Accordingly, my prima facie opinion is that the entire matter should be thoroughly investigated.’

What the Police Commissioner told the Chief Justice
The Police Commissioner told the Chief Justice, ‘The PCR call was made by Justice Verma’s personal secretary. Justice Yashwant Verma’s personal secretary was informed about the fire by a servant posted at the residence. It is also reported that the fire service was not informed separately. However, once the PCR was contacted, the information regarding the fire was automatically sent to the Delhi Fire Service.’

He further said, ‘The store room is next to the guard room, where the Central Reserve Police Force (Battalion 70F) is deployed and the store room was kept closed. According to the security guard posted at the residence, some debris and half-burnt items were removed on the morning of 15.3.2025. Accordingly, my prima facie opinion is that a thorough investigation of the entire matter is required.’

On the evening of March 20, a letter was sent to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court informing about the proposal to send Justice Yashwant Verma back to the Allahabad High Court.

Details of the investigation conducted by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court
The details of the investigation by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court were given as follows, ‘A request letter was sent to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi to obtain the call details records and IPDR of the mobile phone number of Justice Yashwant Verma for the last six months i.e. from 1.9.2024 to date. The call records have been received and sent to the CJI in a pen drive. The IPDR is also to be submitted to the CJI. As received from the Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

The Delhi Police was requested to submit the details of the personal security officers and security guards deployed at the residence of Justice Yashwant Verma during the last six months.

Letter from Chief Justice of Supreme Court Sanjiv Khanna to Chief Justice of High Court
The Chief Justice of Supreme Court Sanjiv Khanna wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on March 21 and asked him to ask Justice Yashwant Verma to provide the following information: (a) How does he account for the presence of money/cash in the room situated in his premises? (b) Explain the source of the money/cash found in the said room. (c) Who is the person who removed the burnt money/cash from the room on the morning of March 15, 2025?

The CJI has also sought details of the official staff, private security officers and security guards of the High Court Registry posted at his residence during the last six months. A request letter may be sent to the mobile service provider(s) to provide call record details of the last six months of Justice Yashwant Verma’s official or other mobile phone numbers.

Justice Verma’s statement
At the same time, Justice Yashwant Verma has termed the allegations in the note recovery controversy at his official residence here as baseless. Justice Verma said that no cash was ever kept in the store room by him or any member of his family. In his reply submitted to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice Verma said that the allegations of cash being found at his residence clearly appear to be a conspiracy to implicate and defame him.

He said, “I strongly deny this allegation also and if it is alleged that we have taken out currency from the store room, I completely reject it. No sack of burnt currency was shown or handed over to us.”