New Delhi: On March 14, on the night of March 14, a high-level judicial panel, CJI Sanjeev Khanna, in his report, has been suspected to disappear the mysterious disappearance of the cash while interrogating the discovery of a large amount of cash at the official residence of HC Judge Yashwant Verma.The inquiry panel including Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of Punjab and Haryana, Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh CJ GS Sandhawellia and Justice Anu Shivraman of Karnataka HC recorded the statements of private secretaries and employees of the judge, posted at their residence, as well as fire and police personnel told fire in -laws of the officer Bunder Huped Bandar and police personnel.The first personnel of the respondents were unequal to that they made untouched cash sacks along with flames in the storeroom within the judge’s residential complex along with the video of burning and left the place without seizing any cash, either burn or imbalance.Delhi HC Chief Justice DK Upadhyay directed his registrar-cum-secretary to visit Justice Verma’s residence and inspect the place of fire when he was informed about the incident by the Delhi Police Commissioner on March 15 at 4.50 pm. On reaching the residence, he was taken to Nyaya Verma by the later private secretary.Justice Verma took the Secretary of the CJ to the room, adjacent to the official residence of the judge. He found that although burnt articles and debris were in the room, there was no sign of any cash, burnt or unbalanced.The inquiry panel registered that the fire service was alerted by the police, which received the first call about the incident at the judge’s residence at 11.35 am on 14 March.They reached the spot by 11.43 pm, set fire and left the scene at 1.56 am on March 15. The panel also found that soon after the police personnel, who videographed the incident, also left the house, which left the cash behind because it was in the room. Security personnel posted at the judge’s residence informed the panel that Justice Verma’s private secretary and individual employees stayed back. The panel said that it was the prior of the opinion that the cash had disappeared from the room in the early hours of March 15 and the fire scene was cleaned with all the burnt and unbalanced notes, which could not be done without the knowledge and participation of the judge’s private secretary and individual employees.However, the panel stated that it would require a formal investigation to call witnesses and record their statements, which cannot be done by an informal probe panel as it was not provided with powers to investigate according to the Criminal Procedure Code. It should be seen whether the Delhi HC initiates any disciplinary proceedings against the judge’s private secretary based on the prima facial findings of the HC inquiry panel.CJI Khanna took forward the investigation report to Justice Verma to seek his response and with a suggestion that he should give up justice. Justice Verma refused to leave the CJI, forcing the CJI to send an inquiry report with the judge’s response to the President and the PM.Justice Verma was returned from Delhi HC to Allahabad HC, his parents’ High Court, immediately after the Constitution of the Investigation Panel and the judicial work has been taken away.
