Judge resigns year after cash pile found at home

NEW DELHI: Justice Yashwant Varma, who has been in the eye of a storm for more than 13 months since the accidental discovery of wads of burnt notes in his official bungalow in New Delhi, has resigned as a judge of Allahabad high court.

In a letter to President Droupadi Murmu on Friday, Varma said he was resigning "with immediate effect", bringing down the curtains on what had until March 2025 seemed a promising judicial career.

It took eyewitness testimonies of firemen and police officials before the judges inquiry committee headed by SC Justice Aravind Kumar pursuant to a removal motion, to persuade the controversial HC judge to drop his resistance. They had, on the night of March 14-15 last year, responding to a 112 fire emergency, stumbled upon sacks of cash at New Delhi's Tughlaq Road bungalow of Justice Varma, then a Delhi HC judge.

"While I do not propose to burden your august office with the reasons which have constrained me to submit this missive, it is with deep anguish that I hereby tender my resignation from the office of the judge of Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect," Justice Varma wrote.