A year after Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court found a huge stash of currency notes at his Delhi residence, Droupadi Murma resigned as president. In his resignation letter, Justice Yashwant Varma expressed deep anguish while describing it as an honor to have served the President during her tenure.
What did Justice Yashwant Varma write in his resignation letter?
In a letter sent to the President on April 9, Justice Varma, 57, said it was with “deep anxieties” that he tendered his resignation.
Yashwant Varma said: “Your Excellency, while I do not propose to burden your honorable office with the reasons that compelled me to submit this letter, it is with deep distress that I hereby announce my resignation from the office of Judge of the Allahabad High Court with immediate effect. It has been an honor to serve in this office.”
Justice Yashwant Varma is facing the heat from March 2025 after wads of currency notes were found in his residence following a huge fire on the night of Holi on March 14. He was then a judge of the Delhi High Court.
More than a year after the cash was recovered, Yashwant Varma resigned from his position, making the impeachment process meaningless. This means that the ongoing impeachment proceedings to remove Yashwant Varma from his office have become fruitless due to his resignation.
As a result, a three-member commission of inquiry comprising Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior advocate BV Acharya conducted an inquiry, a condition precedent to the impeachment motion.
The case took many twists and turns after Justice Varma refused to recuse himself on the advice of CJI Sanjiv Khanna. Justice Sanjiv Khanna then wrote to President Murmu to proceed with Varma’s impeachment. He was also moved to the Allahabad High Court.
In January, the Supreme Court dismissed his plea challenging the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to recognize the impeachment motion and the validity of the panel set up to investigate the corruption charges against him, saying that the provisions of the law cannot be used as a weapon to scuttle parliamentary proceedings.
On August 12 last year, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conceded to a multi-party motion to remove Justice Varma.
CJI Khanna later set up a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry.
What did Justice Varma say?
Justice Varma argued that no cash was ever placed in the warehouse “either by me or any of my family members and (I) strongly condemn the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us”. He also claimed a conspiracy to impeach him.
“I unequivocally state that neither I nor any of my family members have ever placed any cash in this warehouse and I strongly condemn the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that we held or stored this cash is absolutely absurd,” Justice Varma said.
Justice Varma argued that the room was separate from the residential areas of his residence: “The suggestion that a person would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used warehouse near staff quarters or in an outbuilding borders on the unbelievable and unbelievable.”
