India, Oct. 8 -- A special court constituted under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday rejected a plea by Sunil Bajranglal Varma, former international business head of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group, seeking release on a bond in the alleged Rs.7,080.86-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Special Judge S K Karhale said Varma had remained abroad and appeared before the trial court only after the Bombay High Court intervened, and therefore could not claim that he had cooperated with the investigation.

The CBI had registered the case on February 15, 2018, based on a complaint by a PNB officer. It later filed a supplementary chargesheet against Varma in June 2021 to facilitate extradition proceedi...