‘No FIR to date, need to find bigger sharks’: VP Dhankhar on Justice Yashwant Varma case

NEW DELHI: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has raised concerns over the probe by a panel of three judges into allegations of discovery of unaccounted cash at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma during a fire incident in March this year, wondering why there is no FIR to date while everyone in the country is now thinking “whether this will be washed off.”

Dhankhar spoke at the book launch event of ‘The Constitution We Adopted (with Artworks)’, edited by Vijay Hansaria, senior advocate, Supreme Court of India, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Monday.

“We’re confronted with the jarring reality. A judge’s residence in Lutyens Delhi had burnt notes. There is no FIR to date…Everyone in the country is now thinking whether this will be washed off or fade with time, and they are really concerned. How come the criminal justice system was not operationalised as it would have been done for every other individual?… This issue for which people are waiting with bated breath, the money trail, its source, its purpose”, he said.

We’re confronted with a jarring reality. A Judge’s residence in Lutyen’s Delhi had burnt notes and cash. There is no FIR till date.

We have in the country rule of law, criminal justice system. There can be no occasion whatsoever to delay even for a moment because that is… pic.twitter.com/jqrWFADrXr

— Vice-President of India (@VPIndia) May 19, 2025

Furthermore, the Vice President asserted that there have already been two months into the matter and an investigation must be conducted with “expedition”.

“Did it pollute the judicial system? Who are the bigger sharks? We need to find out. Already two months have gone by. An investigation is required to be conducted with expedition. So is the case with the registration of an FIR. I do hope and believe that the Supreme Court acted the very best so far because it had a legacy issue of judgments imparted in 90s”, Jagdeep Dhankhar said.

“But now is the time to take a call. Partly the confidence has been restored by Justice Khanna. When you put in public domain documentation which people thought will never be shown to them. That was a big step by him to project accountability and transparency. If democratic values have to prosper, I am sure this is a test case. There must be a swift investigation by those concerned with the investigation”, VP Dhankhar added.

A panel of judges tasked with conducting an internal inquiry into allegations of cash being discovered at Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence submitted its report to the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on May 4. The Chief Justice of India constituted this committee on March 22 to examine the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting judge of the High Court of Delhi. (ANI)