Parliamentary Panel Finds Judge Unable to Explain Unaccounted Cash

A parliamentary inquiry committee has found former Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma unable to explain the source of a large quantity of unaccounted cash discovered at his official residence, concluding he interfered with evidence and provided misleading explanations. The three-member panel, comprising Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, and Senior Advocate B V Acharya, submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, which was tabled in the Lower House on August 12, 2026. The committee was constituted under the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, following a removal motion moved by 146 Lok Sabha MPs in August 2025.

The inquiry stemmed from a fire incident on the night of March 14, 2025, at Justice Varma's official bungalow in New Delhi, where he was then serving as a Delhi High Court judge. Firefighters responding to the blaze allegedly discovered massive amounts of burnt and partially destroyed currency notes in a storeroom. Justice Varma was transferred to his parent court, the Allahabad High Court, following the controversy. He later resigned from his position as a judge of the Allahabad High Court in April 2026.