Delhi judge denies seizure of any cash amid Supreme Court video release

India Today

The Supreme Court has made public reports, photos, and videos related to allegations of unaccounted cash found at Justice Yashwant Verma's residence. Justice Verma, a sitting Delhi High Court judge, denies wrongdoing. A three-judge panel has been formed to investigate. The court seeks details on the source of the cash and staff at Verma's residence. Justice Verma claims the allegations are a conspiracy to malign him.

Transcript

00:00In a rare act of public disclosure, the Supreme Court uploaded reports, photos and videos

00:06related to the allegations of unaccounted cash discovered at the official residence

00:11of Justice Yashwant Verma, a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court.

00:15The materials now available on the court's website reveal the findings of an internal

00:19investigation and Justice Verma's detailed response denying the allegations.

00:23The Supreme Court also uploaded videos and photographs which Delhi Police Commissioner

00:27Sanjay Arora perpetually shared with Chief Justice Upadhyay.

00:30A three-judge panel has been formed by the Supreme Court to probe the case.

00:35Justice Verma has denied the allegations, calling them a conspiracy to malign him.

00:38He also claimed that the room where the cash was found was accessible to everyone, including

00:43his workers, gardeners and even staff from the Central Public Works Department.

00:48The Supreme Court has written to the High Court and asked questions from Justice Verma.

00:51The Supreme Court seeks the source of the cash and details of staff members from the

00:55last six months at Verma's residence.

00:58Justice Verma has been explicitly asked not to delete any data from his phone.

01:06What Justice Verma has said on the entire matter is that he has said that all the allegations

01:10against him are preposterous and he's denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

01:14He's denied a cash haul, saying that no cash was placed in the storeroom that was there

01:18in his house.

01:19He's also gone on to say that the cash does not belong to him or his family.

01:23He's further said no sacks of burnt currency were found in the storeroom.

01:28No cash was shown to his family or the staff that was present there at the house.

01:33This is what Justice Verma has said when it comes to the cash that was found in the storeroom,

01:38saying that this is a conspiracy to malign him, to tarnish his image, and it is in fact

01:43to frame him.

01:48That is what Justice Verma has said after a huge wads of cash were found, burnt cash

01:53were found in the storeroom.

01:55This incident occurred on March 14.

01:57In a rare public disclosure, the Supreme Court has uploaded the reports, videos and photos

02:02related to the allegations of this unaccounted cash, pictures of which and videos of which

02:07you see on the screen.

02:08This was at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma, a sitting judge of the Delhi

02:12High Court.

02:13The materials available on the court's website now reveal the findings of an internal investigation

02:18and Justice Verma's detailed response denying the allegations.

02:22The Supreme Court has also uploaded videos and photographs which Delhi Police Commissioner

02:26Sanjay Arora perpetually shared with the Chief Justice Upadhyay.

02:31A three-judge panel has also been formed by the Supreme Court to probe the entire incident.

02:35Justice Verma has denied the allegations, calling them a conspiracy to malign him.

02:40He also claimed that the room where the cash was found was accessible to everyone, including

02:44his workers and gardeners and even the staff from the Central Public Works Department.

02:50He said that no cash was placed in the storeroom that was there in the house.

03:20The Supreme Court has also released an entire press release, including all the concerned

03:23documents with regard to this case, including the communication sent by the Chief Justice

03:28of India to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice and also the High Court Chief Justice's inquiry

03:33report with Justice Verma's response as well.

03:36The Chief Justice of India asked the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to get clarifications

03:40from Justice Verma in certain important aspects, including how does he account for the cash

03:45that was found in that said room, the source of the money, the cash, etc.

03:51Now, post that, the Delhi High Court Chief Justice in his report has said many important

03:55points regarding the inquiry, stating that the inquiry conducted by him reveals, it does

04:02not reveal the possibility of impure access to the room, the said room where the incident

04:06took place, by any person other than his family members, those residing in the bungalow, the

04:11servants, gardeners and the CPW persons.

04:15So even according to the Chief Justice, these persons could have accessed the said room

04:19and the Chief Justice has said that he has the privacy of opinion that the entire matter

04:22warrants a deeper probe.

04:24Now, Justice Yashwant Verma, as you pointed out, has vehemently denied all these allegations.

04:29He in fact even questioned that the room where the incident took place is in one corner of

04:34the house, completely separate from the bungalow where his family resides.

04:40The incident happened when him and his wife were not even in town and also that there

04:45is a possibility, he basically said that this is a conspiracy.

04:48It clearly is a conspiracy to malign him and against him.

04:52The Supreme Court, as of now, the Chief Justice has constituted a three-member panel which

04:57consists of High Court judges, which will now probe into this entire issue and the allegations

05:03that have been made against Justice Verma.

05:06Right, Srishti, what can you tell us about the reaction of the judicial fraternity in

05:09the entire matter because this is something that has made national headlines and even

05:13though Justice Verma has denied the allegations, there are questions that are being raised

05:18about where, how the cash, so many wads of cash were found in his residence.

05:22Well, since the news broke out on Friday morning, we have seen, you know, the legal fraternity

05:30very, was extremely shocked.

05:32We also spoke to many lawyers who both on and off record have told us that, you know,

05:36this is an extremely shocking incident.

05:38At the end of the day, allegations like these end up raising a big question and also end

05:43up, you know, bringing up this topic, the topic debatable, which is corruption in Vinny

05:47Sheth.

05:48But on the other hand, we have also spoken, there are also lawyers and, you know, people

05:53who are saying that the allegations are not yet proven.

05:55So the possibility of a conspiracy, as Justice Verma has also now indicated, could be true.

06:00There is no proof as of now, you know, as to whether the cash belonged to him and what

06:05exactly has happened.

06:06The inquiry is yet to be completed.

06:08But yes, just the fact that cash in such large amounts was found at a setting hypo judge

06:15in itself is an extremely shocking thing, because, you know, the entire idea of independence

06:23of judiciary and the judicial system is supposed to be, the judges are supposed to be honest,

06:27et cetera.

06:27But, well, whether or not he's guilty, something, you know, what exactly happened is something

06:32we'll know once the inquiry concludes.

06:35Right.

06:37Srishti, what can you tell us about the three-member panel that has been formed by the Supreme

06:41Court to probe the entire incident?

06:42Who is part of the panel?

06:48Well, so the CJR has constituted a three-member committee.

06:51It consists of, when a three-member panel is constituted as part of the in-house procedures,

06:57it's supposed to consist of two sitting high-court chief justices and one high-court judge.

07:03In this case, the committee has the Chief Justice of High Court of Punjab and Haryana,

07:07the Chief Justice of High Court of Himachal Pradesh and the judge of the Karnataka High

07:12Court.

07:12They've been asked to conduct an inquiry into the allegations that have been made against

07:16Justice Verma.

07:17And after that, what we also heard from the court was, till the time being, this inquiry

07:22is being conducted.

07:23The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has also been asked to not assign any judicial

07:27work to Justice Yashwant Verma.

07:31So, considering the court has made the earlier reports public, we're also expecting once

07:37the report of this committee comes out, the court is also likely to make that report public

07:43when we should have information as to what exactly the committee decides.

07:47Well, only time will tell what the probe report reveals.

07:49Thank you, Srishti, for bringing us those details on that story.

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