New Delhi: A court in Belgium has rejected the bail plea of absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi, who is accused in the Rs. 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case.The arguments in the case were heard by a three-judge bench which then ruled against granting bail to Choksi, reported Times of India.Choksi’s Indian lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, was seen in Antwerp ahead of the bail hearing and had also visited Choksi in jail.Earlier, at a press conference held in Delhi, Aggarwal had said that the defence strategy to contest Choksi’s extradition was built on two key grounds: the political nature of the case and concerns over the treatment of Choksi’s health condition in India.Aggarwal had argued that extradition could severely impact Choksi’s human rights, “particularly due to the lack of adequate medical care and the risk of harassment by political entities.”Choksi was held in Belgium after an extradition request by Indian investigation agencies, the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, over his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank bank loan fraud case.Choksi is the uncle of billionaire diamantiare Nirav Modi who is also an accused in the 2018 loan fraud.Reports have said that Choksi’s wife is a Belgian citizen. He had been staying in Antigua and Barbuda, a country in the Caribbean, before moving to Belgium. In 2023, the Antigua and Barbuda high court had ruled that he cannot be removed from the country after Choksi filed a civil suit claiming that he was abducted from Antigua and Barbuda and taken to Dominica forcibly in a boat on May 23, 2021, allegedly by officials of India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.