Fire at Delhi HC judge’s residence uncovers hidden cash, SC collegium orders immediate transfer
New Delhi: A fire at the residence of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma led to the discovery of a large stash of cash, leading to action from the Supreme Court collegium. The collegium has decided to transfer Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court with immediate effect, with some members suggesting resignation or an in-house inquiry.
According to a Times of India report, the fire broke out at Justice Varma’s bungalow while he was away. His family contacted emergency services, and after the flames were extinguished, responders found piles of cash inside one of the rooms. The authorities reported the discovery to the police, and the matter soon reached the office of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.
Following the revelation, the CJI convened a collegium meeting to discuss the situation. After deliberations, the collegium decided on Justice Varma’s immediate transfer to his parent court, the Allahabad High Court. He had been serving in the Delhi High Court since October 2021 after moving from Allahabad.
However, some collegium members raised concerns about the judiciary’s credibility and suggested stronger action. They proposed that Justice Varma be asked to resign or face an in-house inquiry. As per the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court in 1999, an in-house inquiry would require CJI Khanna to seek Justice Varma’s response. If found unsatisfactory, a panel of senior judges would be constituted for further investigation.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
