Calcutta, July 1: The Birlas today registered their first major victory against Rajendra Singh Lodha in the eleven-month-old legal battle over the assets of the MP Birla group.

Calcutta High Court today dismissed a petition seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings against Lodha and three others ? S. M. Prasad, V. Gourishankar and S. K. Daga.

“It is a vindication of our stand and we are happy with the ruling,” said Rajendra Prasad Pansari, a close confidant of the Birla family.

Pansari had filed the criminal case against Lodha and three others on October 5, 2004, in the Alipore court. Pansari brought a string of charges ? from conspiracy and cheating to forgery of will and destruction of documents ? against Lodha and accused him of trying to usurp the assets of the MP Birla group.

“All these assets were meant for charity, but he (Lodha) along with his stooges wanted to appropriate them,” said Pansari, explaining why he had filed a criminal case.

Priyamvada Birla’s last testament of 1999, which Lodha claimed had made him the sole successor of the assets of the MP Birla group, is at the centre of the controversy and the city-based chartered accountant is fighting a bitter legal battle against the Birla family for the past one year.

The two sides are engaged in a civil case in the high court and a boardroom battle in the Company Law Board besides the criminal case.

Though the country’s first business family has maintained that all the cases are equally important, the criminal case, for which it fielded legal eagle Ram Jethmalani, is high on the family’s priority list.

The pause button was pressed on the proceedings at the Alipore court as Prasad moved the high court seeking the quashing of the criminal proceedings.

To match Jethmalani, the Lodha camp had hired Shanti Bhushan.

Observing that there was no merit in the application, Justice P. N. Sinha dismissed the review application today and passed an order allowing the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) of the Alipore court to proceed with the criminal case. Justice Sinha also observed that there was no valid ground for granting a stay on the criminal proceedings at this stage.

The Lodha camp was guarded in its reaction. “The quashing plea can be raised again at the SDJM’s court and we can go into the merits of the case in detail,” said Joymalya Bagchi, counsel for Prasad.

There are now two options before Lodha ? either move the Supreme Court challenging the high court order or take part in the proceedings in the Alipore court. The matter will come up for hearing before the SDJM on July 29.

“We can comment on our future course of action only after we get a copy of the order,” said Bagchi.