Supreme Court to hear plea against Lal Krishna Advani, others

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear a CBI plea to revive conspiracy charges against senior BJP leader L K Advani and several other top party brass in connection with the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.

The appeal against a High Court order upholding their discharge had been belatedly filed by the CBI in 2011during the erstwhile UPA regime.

A top court bench led by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose indicated as much today on the ground that Justice R F Nariman was sitting in another bench. The case was on Wednesday listed in Justice Nariman's absence before Justices Ghose and Deepak Gupta, prompting much speculation in the court corridors.

But Justice Ghose was quick to clear the air on this when he said that he would hear it along with Justice Nariman on Thursday . Justice Ghose also ignored a plea by Advani's lawyer to have the case adjourned for a month citing his preoccupation with another case. He instead said that the case would be heard tomorrow.

At the last hearing, Justice Nariman had made very strong observations regarding the discharge of the top BJP brass.