Storeroom where burnt cash was found under active control of Justice Varma and family: Panel
New Delhi, May 30 (PTI): A Supreme Court-appointed committee, which has indicted Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma in a cash-discovery row, has said the access to the storeroom where burnt cash was found was under the "active control" of the judge and his family, sources said.
They said the panel has found some evidence that indicate that the burnt cash was removed from the storeroom on May 15 after a fire incident came to light.
Earlier this month, the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides sharing with them the committee report, along with the response received from Justice Varma.
The sources said the panel, which considered evidence including electronic evidence, has opined in its report that the allegations are serious enough to commence proceedings for Justice Varma's removal.
The panel has analysed the evidence and recorded the statements of more than 50 people, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and the Delhi Fire Services chief, who were among the first responders to the fire incident at Justice Varma's official Lutyen's Delhi residence at 11:35 pm on March 14.
Justice Varma was a judge of the Delhi High Court then.
The allegation was repeatedly denied by Justice Varma in his responses to the Delhi High Court chief justice and the Supreme Court-appointed panel.
The apex court administration recently rejected a plea seeking the committee report under the Right to Information Act.
The RTI application had also sought a disclosure of the communication between the then CJI and the president and the prime minister over the matter.
The in-house procedure entails that the CJI writes to the president and the prime minister for impeachment after the advice to the judge to resign is not complied with.
"Chief Justice of India, in terms of the in-house procedure, has written to the President of India and the Prime Minister of India, enclosing therewith copy of the three-member committee report dated May 3 along with the letter/response dated May 6 received from Justice Yashwant Varma," the apex court said in a statement on May 8.
The committee had confirmed the cash-discovery allegations against Justice Varma in its inquiry report, the sources had previously said.
The three-member panel comprised Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court. The report was finalised on May 3.
The sources had also said former CJI Khanna had nudged Justice Varma to step down in view of the critical findings in the report, which was forwarded to the judge for his response, in line with the principle of natural justice.
The controversy was raised following a news report in the cash-discovery row and had led to several steps, including a preliminary inquiry by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, judicial work being taken away from Justice Varma in the Delhi High Court and later, his transfer to the Allahabad High Court sans judicial work.
On March 24, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent, Allahabad High Court.
On March 28, the top court asked the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for now.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
