Justice Varma row: Citing videos, panel flags ‘contradiction' in former private secy's ‘only learnt of burnt notes days later' claim

Indian Express

5 hours ago

The three-judge committee probing the discovery of currency notes during a fire at the official residence of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma relied on videos of the incident to punch holes in claims by his then private secretary, Rajinder Singh Karki, that he only learnt of the news 'six to seven days' later and said that the statement 'does not inspire confidence'.
The Supreme Court-appointed committee comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court, concluded in its report that 'the factum of…Karki having been instructed by Justice Varma to stay at night at the residence is…a matter of record…' and that 'his presence till early morning on 15.03.2025 at the residence of Justice Varma is fully established'.
The report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, said that 'being the senior most employee at the site', Karki had a detailed conversation with Justice Varma at 1.23 am on March 15. This, the report added, 'would be clear from his call details…which has been received from Justice Varma's phone No…It is also come on record that though he had been asked to stay back at the residence, but no instructions were given to him that he could leave in the morning.'
The report indicting Justice Verma was formally submitted to then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on May 4, following which it was forwarded to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The report pointed out that the first of these videos, a 67-second one, made by Delhi Police Head Constable Roop Chand, allegedly on the instructions of his superior, Station House Officer Umesh Malik, 'has not been disputed ever by Justice Varma'. A similar video of about 70 seconds was also made by one Head Constable Sunil Kumar.
The videos were 'shown to the independent eye witnesses including the fire/police personnel who were at the spot who have vouched for the same. The witness No.6 Manoj Mehlawat, the Station Officer of Delhi Fire Services had also admitted that it is his voice in the… (first) video… wherein he is heard saying 'Mahatama Gandhi me aag lag rahi hai bhai'…The above reference is thus to the currency notes of Rs.500/- denomination having got affected in the fire since the image of Mahatama Gandhi figures on Rs.500/- currency note,' the report added.
It added that 'at the end of the (first) video…there is an audio reference to a person calling out the name of 'Rahil' the house staff employee and since the video being shot is at the entrance of the store room, Mr. Karki, has admitted in his examination that it might be his voice. Similarly, when it was put to Rahil (Witness No 35 Mohammad Rahil, CA, Co-terminus, posted at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma) that his name is being called out, he admitted that it was Mr. Karki calling out to him'.
The report adds, 'It is thus apparent that both Mr. Karki and Rahil were present in front of the store room and were eye witnesses to the factum of currency having been burnt and present in the store room and their explanation as such that they were kept away from the entrance of the store room by the fire personnel cannot be accepted. Rahil…has also, while being confronted with (the video)….admitted that the store room is the same place where the fire incident took place and there are huge stacks which caught fire.'
Relying on the video and calls between him and Justice Varma, the report said, 'Karki's explanation as such that he came to know about the burnt currency in the house for the first time after six to seven days after the fire incident does not inspire confidence as it is his categorical deposition that he had not seen the burnt currency notes though shown in the video…which had been confronted to him.'
The report said that regarding his voice in the first video calling out the name of Rahil, Karki had explained that he was not present at the spot but was standing at a distance, in the backyard of the bungalow on the deck. 'However, from the said video and audio, it is apparent that he was very much present in the front of the store room when the videos were being shot by the fireman and the police personnel and the same calling out of the name of Rahil is also reflected in Video…taken by Head Constable Sunil Kumar,' the report stated.
It also pointed out the 'contradiction' in Karki's claim that after meeting the Delhi High Court Deputy Registrar Sandeep Kumar Sharma in the evening on March 15, he had not gone anywhere as he had 'household work to do…'. The report said, this is 'in contradiction to the fact that he was present at the site of the store room since it has already come on record that the store room was inspected on 15.03.2025 evening at 9.00 PM by Naresh Chander Garg, Registrar-cum-Secretary to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.'
The committee said 'these contradictions from Mr. Karki's statement are, thus, being highlighted to show that his presence at the house, as such, continued throughout the night admittedly and, therefore, his explanation that he was not in any way connected with the cleaning up of the debris from the fire in the store area stands contradicted by the CRPF guards W (witness) -28 Sunil Kumar and W-30 C.G. Rawat, who stated to the contrary.'
The committee noted that 10 eyewitnesses—six fire service personnel and four Delhi Police personnel—had testified before it about the presence of cash in the store room.
On the alleged removal of the burnt cash from the scene of the fire, the report said, 'A conjunctive reading of the statements of eye witnesses, electronic evidence and the circumstantial evidence, which has come on record, as explained supra and the failure of Justice Varma and his personal staff to explain the omissions, contradictions and embellishment, noticed in their statements, this committee is compelled to hold by way of strong inferential evidence on record that the most trusted personnel of domestic staff i.e. Rahil/Hanuman Parshad Sharma (posted in Justice Varma's residence) and Rajinder Singh Karki, Private Secretary to Justice Varma were instrumental in removing the burnt money/cash from the store room during the wee hours of 15.03.2025 sometime after the firemen/Delhi Police personnel had left the premises.'
Ananthakrishnan G. is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. He has been in the field for over 23 years, kicking off his journalism career as a freelancer in the late nineties with bylines in The Hindu. A graduate in law, he practised in the District judiciary in Kerala for about two years before switching to journalism. His first permanent assignment was with The Press Trust of India in Delhi where he was assigned to cover the lower courts and various commissions of inquiry.
He reported from the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India during his first stint with The Indian Express in 2005-2006. Currently, in his second stint with The Indian Express, he reports from the Supreme Court and writes on topics related to law and the administration of justice. Legal reporting is his forte though he has extensive experience in political and community reporting too, having spent a decade as Kerala state correspondent, The Times of India and The Telegraph. He is a stickler for facts and has several impactful stories to his credit. ... Read More