The Supreme Court will Monday hear two petitions challenging the dropping of a `conspiracy' charge against the Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya demolition case before a Rae Bareily special court.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan will take up the petitions seeking a direction that Advani should be tried for the conspiracy charge on the basis of a composite charge sheet filed in May 1993 in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The apex court had in September 2003 issued a notice to Advani, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) and others on two writ petitions filed by advocates Wajahat Ansari and C.M. Shukla challenging the dropping of the `conspiracy' charge in the supplementary charge sheet.

Besides the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government, the petitioners have cited former union human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Sadvi Ritambara, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar as respondents.

The petitioners said they were deeply aggrieved by the CBI filing a fresh charge sheet on May 30, 2003 by deleting the charge of `conspiracy' (120 B Indian Penal Code) because the same was a "shocking" abuse of the due procedure of law.

The petitioners submitted that when the apex court was seized of the review petition, the trial should have proceeded on the basis of the original composite charge sheet filed by the CBI on Oct 4-5, 1993 under section 120 B read with other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

But, they said, taking advantage of the apex court's order of Nov 29, 2002, permitting the trial to proceed in the Rae Bareili court, the CBI, under political pressure had submitted a truncated charge sheet, omitting the conspiracy charge.