Kochi | Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said he hopes a criminal investigation will be launched into the large stash of cash found at a judge's official residence in New Delhi, comparing the incident to the "Ides of March" -- a reference to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and a symbol of looming misfortune.
Referring to the incident, he said now the point is, if that cash was found, the system should have moved immediately and the first process would have been to deal with it as a criminal act, find out those who are culpable and bring them to justice.
While interacting with the students and faculty members at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), the Vice President likened the cash discovered at the High Court judge's residence to the "Ides of March." He said the judiciary faced its own "Ides of March" on the night of March 14–15, when large amounts of cash were officially acknowledged to have been found, yet no FIR was filed.
Dhankhar stressed that the system should have treated it as a criminal matter from the start, but added that the Centre is currently constrained by a Supreme Court ruling from the early 1990s.
"But so far, there has been no FIR. The government at the central level is handicapped because an FIR cannot be registered in view of a judgment of the Supreme Court rendered in early 90s," he said.
His statement comes amidst reports that Justice Yashwant Varma was facing an impeachment in Parliament after an unspecified amount of money was found in his official residence following a fire.
Justice Varma has denied all allegations and submitted responses to both the Delhi High Court Chief Justice and a Supreme Court-appointed panel.
Despite this, judicial work was withdrawn from him, and he was later transferred to the Allahabad High Court, where the Chief Justice was directed by the apex court not to assign him any judicial duties for the time being.
The panel investigating the incident has recorded statements from over 50 people, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg, who were among the first responders.