The Delhi High Court on Monday (September 21) rejected a plea seeking registration of an FIR and an independent investigation by the CBI or SIT in the case of a large amount of burnt currency notes allegedly found in a fire at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma. This petition was filed by advocate Ghanshyam Dayalu Upadhyay.
Delhi HC refuses to hear the petition
The court of Justice Amit Bansal refused to accept the plea, saying, “I am not entertaining this. This is a wild witch hunt. You have nothing better to do.”
During the hearing, questions were also raised on the locus (right to file the petition) of the petitioner on behalf of the concerned authorities. It was also said that other legal options were available to the petitioner. After this, Upadhyay sought permission to withdraw the petition and adopt alternative legal remedies, but the High Court rejected the petition. The petitioners had earlier approached the Supreme Court in the same matter. The Supreme Court had rejected his similar petition on August 7.
The matter came to light on March 14, 2025
On March 14, 2025, a fire broke out in the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma in Delhi. Firefighters who arrived to extinguish the fire found burnt notes in an outhouse of the residence. After this the matter came into public discussion.
A committee of three judges had investigated
The then CJI Sanjiv Khanna had constituted a three-member in-house committee to investigate the matter. The committee submitted its report in May 2025, in which prima facie accountability was stated regarding the role of Justice Verma. The report was sent to the President and the Prime Minister.
Later Justice Verma was sent back from Delhi High Court to Allahabad High Court and his judicial work was withdrawn. The Supreme Court had also made public the documents, photographs and videos related to the case.
Resigned amid removal process
Justice Verma challenged the in-house inquiry and recommendation of removal in the Supreme Court, but his petitions were rejected. After this, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha constituted a three-member inquiry committee against him as part of the process of removal. During this process, Justice Verma submitted his resignation to the President.
The petitioner said that his objective is not to convict Justice Verma, but to conduct an independent criminal investigation and register an FIR to bring out the truth of the case.
Follow the LALLURAM.COM MP channel on WhatsApp
