New Delhi/Kolkata, March 2 (IANS) With the Supreme Court Tuesday setting aside a Calcutta High Court order, Kolkata-based businessman Ashok Todi will now be tried for abetting the suicide of his son-in-law Rizwanur Rehman and not for his murder.

In a ruling that took Rizwanur's family by surprise, the apex court said Todi and the others would face trial for abetment to suicide, conspiracy and criminal intimidation in the unnatural death of the young man.

Thirty-year-old Rizwanur's body was found on the railway tracks between two railway stations at Patipukur near Kolkata's northern suburb of Dum Dum Sep 21, 2007, a month after he married Todi's daughter Priyanka against her family's wishes.

The death of the computer graphics teacher created a furore after it transpired that Todi and some police officers had put pressure on him to separate from his wife.

Rizwanur's brother Rukbanur Rehman said the family had not expected such a verdict. "We believe he was murdered. We don't believe that he committed suicide," said Rukbanur.

He admitted that the Supreme Court verdict was a "setback" for the family.

An apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan in their judgment upheld the Oct 16, 2007 order of the single judge of the Calcutta High Court, asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death.

After getting the CBI's report, the single judge had ordered the filing of the charge-sheet against Todi and the other accused.

The apex court judges rejected the reasoning advanced by the division bench of the high court setting aside the single judge bench's order.

"All the reasoning recorded by the division bench of the high court in the order dated May 18, 2010 are unacceptable and hereby set aside," the apex court said.

The high court's division bench May 18, 2010 ordered a fresh probe by the CBI directing registration of a murder case.

The apex court said the division bench has "failed to take note that the fresh investigation into the same allegation would be (a) futile exercise and no purpose would be served by investigating the case afresh".

"The de novo investigation by lodging another FIR (first information report) would result in delay of justice since the division bench has ordered to conduct the same investigation under the same sections started three years back by the same agency, namely, the CBI," the judgment read.

"For all these reasons we are unable to sustain the reasoning of the division bench for fresh investigation by the CBI," the judges said.

The division bench's order was challenged by all parties, including the CBI, Rehman's mother Kishwar Jahan, his brother Rukbanur and Todi.

The apex court judgment said that any action against the officers of West Bengal Police, as suggested by the single judge, would be done in "accordance with law and the service conditions applicable to them and after affording opportunity to them".

In the wake of these allegations, the single judge ordered a probe by the CBI, which found Todi guilty of abetment to Rehman's suicide.