Ranchi, June 4: One of the accused in the Sapphire International School murder case filed a discharge petition in a local court in Ranchi today on the ground that there was no direct evidence against him.

Jailed mathematics teacher Arif Ali Ansari, who has been charged with tampering with evidence, among others, after his 16-year-old son killed Class VII student Binay Mahto on February 5, submitted the petition under the Section 227 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the court of judicial commissioner Yogeshwar Mani, demanding that he be absolved of all charges levelled against him.

Ansari yesterday moved a bail petition before the same court. The court reserved its order on bail till Monday. Police do not have any direct evidence against Ansari, who was arrested on February 8 from Taurian World School campus, said Ansari's advocate Chandrashekhar Pandey.

"Section 302 of IPC (murder) does not stand as Ansari was not present on the Sapphire campus before and after the murder. He was on Taurian school campus at Dusmile Chowk, around 3km away from the Sapphire at Hardag. The charge of conspiracy (Section 120B) also does not stand as police do not have any evidence in this regard either. As far as the charge of tampering with evidence (Section 201) is concerned, police do not have any call details to suggest that Ansari had called his wife and children after the murder was committed," he added.

The court admitted the discharge petition and fixed June 14 as the next date for hearing.

Earlier in the day, Ansari and his jailed wife and Sapphire Hindi teacher Nazia Hussain appeared before the court as their judicial remand ended. But the court extended their judicial remand till June 14.

Last month, Ansari's 12-year-old daughter and co-accused, who is in judicial custody at Nari Niketan in Namkum since February 11, had made two unsuccessful attempts to secure bail from the Juvenile Justice Board and the court of Mani on the same.