The Supreme Court on Saturday released a report, including a video and three photographs, pertaining to allegations that unaccounted cash was found at the home of Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court.

The video and photographs show a fireman pulling out half-burnt wads of money from a room.

The redacted report shows that Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya wrote to Varma on March 21, asking him to “account for the presence of money/cash” in a room located in his bungalow.

The cash was allegedly recovered when emergency services responded to a fire incident at Varma’s official residence on March 14. The judge said that he was in Bhopal when the fire erupted.

Varma told the Delhi High Court chief justice that “no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members”, and denied that the cash belonged to them. He said that the room in question is “disconnected from the main residence”, and is not in a room in his house, as has been portrayed in media reports.

“This room is unlocked and accessible both from the official front gate as well as the backdoor of the staff quarters,” Varma said. He asked Upadhyaya to take into consideration “that no currency was recovered from the premises that we actually occupy and use as a family”.

The Supreme Court on Saturday said it has set up a three-member committee to look into the allegations against Varma. The panel comprises Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman.

The Delhi High Court chief justice has for the time being been asked not to assign Varma any judicial work, the Supreme Court said.

The Supreme Court said on March 21 that the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna examined a proposal to transfer Varma to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, on Thursday.

“Thereafter, letters were written to the consultee judges of the Supreme Court, the chief justices of the High Courts concerned and Mr Justice Yashwant Varma,” the Supreme Court said. “Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution.”

It, however, maintained that discussions about the proposed transfer were not linked to the inquiry into the alleged cash haul.

Under the collegium system, the five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, decide on the appointments and transfers of judges to the top court and the High Courts. These recommendations must be approved by the Union government.

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association opposed repatriating Verma to the Allahabad High Court, saying that it is not a “trash bin”. It added that corruption in the judiciary has eroded public faith in it.

Also read: Why Indian judges enjoy de facto impunity when it comes to corruption allegations