NEW DELHI Delhi Fire Chief’s  DFS) clarification amid judge controversy Atul Garg’s statement came after reports that quoted him as saying that no cash was found from Verma’s house. DFS Chief Atul Garg on Friday denied reports that quoted him as saying that no cash was found while dousing fire at Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Verma’s house.
Garg’s clarification came after reports by some media outlets, including a news agency quoting him as saying that firefighters did not find any cash while dousing fire at the judge’s official residence.
On a question, Garg denied the claim and said that he never told any media outlet that firefighters reported not finding any cash from the spot. When asked why he was being named in the reports, Garg replied, “I don’t know why,” adding that he has already sent a clarification to the media outlets that carried the statement. According to the fire department report, the fire was confined only to household and stationery items kept in the storeroom and there were no casualties.
Earlier, some media outlets had reported that Garg said, “No cash was found by firefighters during the fire-fighting operation at the residence of Justice Yashwant Verma of Delhi High Court.” The development comes at a time when the Supreme Court Collegium has initiated a probe into the entire incident following allegations of a large sum of cash being found at Justice Verma’s residence during the fire incident on Thursday night. The Collegium is also said to have recommended his transfer to the Allahabad High Court.
Meanwhile, in response to the speculations, the Supreme Court issued a clarification saying that Justice Verma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court is not related to the cash allegedly found at his official residence. The court emphasized that the decision to transfer was taken independently of the ongoing investigation into the matter. The Supreme Court said in a press note, “Misinformation and rumors are being spread regarding the incident at the residence of Judge Yashwant Verma.” The court rejected any connection between the transfer and the alleged recovery of cash.
On the other hand, Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations against Justice Yashwant Verma, a judge of the Delhi High Court. The Supreme Court said in a press note today that the members of the committee include Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman, a judge of Karnataka High Court. The Supreme Court said that the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Verma for the time being.
The allegation of huge amount of cash being found at Justice Verma’s house came to light soon after the fire incident at his property. Firefighters rushed there and doused the fire, and that’s when they allegedly saw the pile of cash. The amount allegedly recovered by firefighters is yet to be ascertained. Senior lawyer Harish Salve, who calls himself a “staunch critic” of the collegium system, told NDTV on Friday that it is “not equipped” to deal with cases like the alleged recovery of piles of cash from the house of a Delhi High Court judge. Mr Salve alleged that the Delhi fire chief has said there was no recovery of cash from the judge’s bungalow, leading to a “strange and suspicious” situation.
On Friday, the Supreme Court said the process of Justice Verma’s transfer was not related to the investigation into the alleged recovery of huge amounts of cash at his house. The apex court flagged “misinformation and rumours” as reasons for Justice Verma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court linked to the cash recovery.

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