Beleaguered Allahabad High Court Justice Yashwant Varma has written a letter to President of India Droupadi Murmu resigning from his post.
Justice Varma is currently facing allegations of corruption after burnt currency notes were recovered from the premises of his residence in Delhi.
In his letter to the President, Justice Varma wrote,
"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 Judge of the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect.
It has been an honour to serve in this office."
A fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 had allegedly led to the recovery of unaccounted cash by the fire fighters.
At the time, Justice Varma and his wife were traveling in Madhya Pradesh. Only his daughter and aged mother were at home when the fire broke out. A video later surfaced showing bundles of cash burning in the fire.
The incident led to allegations of corruption against Justice Varma, who denied the accusations and said that it appeared to be a conspiracy to frame him.
Justice Khanna then initiated an in-house probe into the allegations and set up a three-member committee on March 22 to conduct the inquiry.
The in-house committee that probed Justice Varma comprised Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman. The panel started the probe on March 25 and submitted its report to CJI Khanna on May 4.
The CJI, on receiving the report of the in-house committee, asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings. However, since Justice Varma declined to quit, CJI Khanna forwarded the report and the judge's response on it to the President of India and the Prime Minister for removal of the judge. Following the allegations, Justice Varma was sent back to his parent High Court from the Delhi High Court. His judicial work was taken away pending further action.
In August 2025, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla initiated the process to remove Justice Varma from his position by constituting a three-member panel to probe the allegations against him.
The committee initially comprised Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Senior Advocate B Vasudeva Acharya. Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar replaced Justice Shrivastava, who retired on March 6.
In January this year, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the inquiry proceedings initiated against Justice Varma, ruling that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha was legally entitled to constitute the Judges Inquiry Committee.
The Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma ruled that the statutory process under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 had not been breached and that the petitioner had failed to show any present violation of fundamental rights.