33-year-old Ranya Rao has been sent to judicial custody till March 24.
Bengaluru: A special court has denied bail to actress Ranya Rao while second accused Tarun Raju was sent to judicial custody for 15 days. Rao was arrested after she was caught smuggling gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore at Bengaluru airport.
After the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested Rao with the nearly 14.8 kg of gold, officials searched her properties and recovered gold jewellery worth Rs 2.6 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in cash.
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Meanwhile, the Election Commission (ED) launched an investigation on March 13 in the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Economic Offences Court in Bengaluru had sent the actor to judicial custody till March 24.
Who is Ranya Rao?
Ranya Rao is the stepdaughter of Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) K. Ramachandra Rao.
Known for her role opposite Kannada superstar Sudeep in the 2014 Maanikya, Rao has also appeared in Tamil film Wagah (2016) and the Kannada film Pataki (2017).
How Ranya Rao Was Caught with 14.8 kg of Gold
The 33-year-old actress came under scrutiny when Rao booked round-trip tickets from Bengaluru to Dubai using her husband Jatin Vijaykumar Hukkeri’s credit card, raising suspicion about his alleged involvement in the gold smuggling case. This was her fourth Dubai trip in 15 days.
The DRI searched nine locations in Bengaluru related to Hukkeri, who got an interim order from the Karnataka High Court restraining the DRI from arresting him.
Rao was found wearing some of the gold while the rest were concealed in her clothes. She was reportedly part of a smuggling network and took around Rs 4-5 lakh as commissions to smuggle the goods from Dubai to Bengaluru.
During the investigation, Rao stated that she had received an internet call and was instructed to collect the gold from Gate A of Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport. She then met a man dressed in a white gown at the airport dining lounge and collected two gold packets wrapped in a “thick tarpaulin plastic” material from him. The actress then went to a nearby washroom to conceal the gold on her body.
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Rao reportedly got through the airport security with the help of a protocol officer, also involved in the racket, before being intercepted by revenue officials near the exit gate.
Currently, three agencies are investigating the gold smuggling case: DRO is probing the Ramya Rao case, the CBI is probing the wider smuggling network, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the Hawala Channel.
