New Delhi: “Gandhi jal rahe hain, bhai,” a voice is heard saying in a video recorded by a Delhi Fire Services officer at the scene of the blaze at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma in New Delhi on March 14.
These words, referring unmistakably to Rs 500 currency notes bearing Mahatma Gandhi’s image, are, according to sources, mentioned in the Supreme Court in-house inquiry report that recommends initiating the procedure to remove Justice Varma.
The report, compiled by a three-judge committee, confirms the presence of large amounts of burnt cash in a store room of Justice Varma’s official residence at 30 Tughlak Crescent, New Delhi, say sources.
The panel, which examined 55 witnesses in total, concluded that Justice Varma could not satisfactorily explain the source of the cash and recommended his impeachment for serious misconduct, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Among the most compelling pieces of evidence cited in the report are two mobile videos recorded by two Delhi police head constables, sources said.
Both videos, captured at the site of the fire, have been forensically validated by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Chandigarh, sources added.
Sources said Justice Varma has not disputed the authenticity of either video. In one video voice of an officer of the Delhi Fire Services is clearly heard exclaiming, “Mahatma Gandhi me aag lag rahi hai bhai”—a reference the committee interpreted as an eyewitness observation of Rs 500 notes burning in the fire, sources added.
The videos also captured audio of Justice Varma’s domestic staff being summoned, sources said. A domestic help admitted under questioning that he was present near the entrance when the fire broke out and acknowledged seeing “huge stacks” inside, sources said.
With 10 of the 55 witnesses directly corroborating the presence of burnt currency, and multiple pieces of video evidence vindicating their accounts, the committee found strong inferential proof that the cash had been stored in and later removed from the premises, sources said, adding, “The report concludes that the misconduct uncovered is grave enough to warrant proceedings for the judge’s removal from office.”
(IANS)
