Mumbai: The Bombay high court has discharged a Navi Mumbai-based businessman from the murder case of builder Sunil Kumar Lahoria, observing that there were no sufficient grounds for the case to proceed against him.

Justice A.M. Badar discharged Bhupesh Gupta, who runs a cable business, after holding that the chargesheet filed by the police and the witness statements do not conclusively reveal his role in the murder case. Gupta had approached the high court seeking to be discharged from the case after a sessions court rejected his application in July.

Lahoria was shot dead outside his office in February 2013, allegedly because he had made several enemies over the past few years as he used to expose corruption and illegal constructions.

Justice Badar observed that no witness statement even remotely reveal any incriminating material against Gupta. According to the judge, from the witness statements and other evidence on record, it appears that the applicant used to visit co-accused Suresh Bijlani’s office. The judge held that merely by visiting and meeting with a co-accused, such a visitor cannot be said to be one of the conspirators.

The judge said as per the record, Gupta did not contact Bijlani or any other accused before or after the incident and a charge sheet does not reveal any role played by Gupta in the murder.

In February this year the high court had also discharged another accused Sumit Bachewar, a Navi Mumbai-based real estate agent and developer, for lack of evidence.