India, Sept. 12 -- The Bombay high court has refused to discharge businessman Gautam Khanduja in the 2004 abetment-to-suicide case involving model and 1997 Miss India winner Nafisa Joseph, saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against him. Joseph died by suicide after Khanduja allegedly called off their marriage.

A single-judge bench of justice MM Sathaye rejected Khanduja's plea on Thursday, observing that the question of whether the allegations amounted to abetment could be decided only at trial. "It is true that strong suspicion cannot take the place of proof, but that can only be decided at the stage of trial," the court said.

Khanduja, 54, a Pali Hill resident who manufactures and exports auto spare parts, was 31 when he ...