New Delhi, Aug. 29: The Supreme Court today declined to stay criminal proceedings against chartered accountant R.S. Lodha, who has been bequeathed the Rs 5000-crore MP Birla estate in the disputed will of Priyamvada Birla.

Hearing on the petitions have been listed for September 7.

A division bench of Justices B.P. Singh and S.H. Kapadia heard counsel for petitioners, including V. Gaurishankar, the 83-year-old senior advocate who had drafted the will, Lodha and others.

Appearing for petitioners, senior counsel Harish Salve argued that the criminal case had been initiated only to harass Lodha, Gaurishankar and others. Gaurishankar had earlier ?authenticated? Priyamvada?s will that is at the centre of the raging dispute. He claimed to have read the will to her and she had signed it in ?her full senses?.

This is the first time that the draftsman of the will has come forward to authenticate it.

Lodha and the others are challenging the initiation of criminal proceedings against them filed by Rajendra Prasad Pansari, an employee of the Birla group.

Siva Nath Prasad and Sushil Kumar Daga have also moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of Calcutta High Court dismissing their petition seeking to quash criminal proceedings initiated by Pansari.

Pansari had accused Lodha and others of entering into a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate property worth Rs 2,400 crore that had been vested in five charitable trusts.

The special leave petition had contended that ?a criminal complaint filed at the instance of a third party, who is not a beneficiary under the trusts or the will nor has any interest in any of the properties mentioned in the complaint, should be quashed on the ground of abuse of the process of law?.

The criminal proceedings were initiated at Alipur trial court on October 5, 2004 by Pansari, perceived to be a ?close associate? of the Birlas and now opposed to Lodha in the will case.

The petitioners wanted a direction quashing the criminal proceeding or at least a stay till the disposal of the main case of probate petition of Lodha for the legal authentication of Priyamvada?s purported will.

The high court had dismissed the plea observing that there was no merit in the case and directed that the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Alipore, was free to proceed with the criminal case.