The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday filed a prosecution complaint seeking the maximum punishment of seven years of imprisonment for the Kannada actress Ranya Rao, 33, and three others for smuggling over 100 kg of gold worth over ₹102 crore in the 2024-2025 period prior to her arrest at the Bengaluru airport on March 3.
The prosecution has sought the maximum punishment under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 for the actress, who is the stepdaughter of a senior Karnataka police officer; Telugu actor Tarun Konduru, 36; hawala dealer Sahil Jain, 29; and his uncle and jeweller Bharat Jain, 45, who were allegedly part of a gold smuggling syndicate.
DRI arrested the actress, stepdaughter of senior Karnataka police officer K Ramachandra Rao, on her arrival from Dubai with a consignment of 14.2 kg of gold (valued at ₹12.56 crore), which was strapped on her body using bandages.
The arrest of Ranya Rao also led to the arrest of Konduru, Sahil Jain, and Bharat Jain.
Three of the accused persons are currently under detention for a year under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974, to prevent them from returning to smuggling activities.
On April 22, the Central Government issued orders for the detention of Rao, Konduru, and Jain for a year under the COFEPOSA Act.
The COFEPOSA detention, which has been challenged in the Karnataka HC by the accused, is scheduled to run till April 2026.
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The prosecution complaint running into 350 pages, along with 2,200 pages of related documents, was filed by a special court for economic offences on Thursday, DRI sources said. The maximum of seven years imprisonment is prescribed for repeated offences of smuggling.
In September this year, DRI had served a notice for penalty payment of ₹102 crore to Ranya Rao alias Harshavardhini Ranya, as the cost for smuggling an equivalent amount of gold into India from Dubai during 2024-25.
Investigations revealed that the actress had gone to Dubai 31 times since 2024 and smuggled nearly 127 kg of gold valued at over ₹100 crore, DRI said.
The detention order was issued by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Finance to prevent their involvement in gold smuggling activities at the request of DRI.
Karnataka IPS officer K Ramachandra Rao interrogated
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A few weeks ago, DRI questioned senior Karnataka IPS officer K Ramachandra Rao, a director general of police rank officer, regarding his knowledge of the gold smuggling racket in which the actress was arrested.
Rao, who was sent on compulsory leave in March by the Karnataka Government following the arrest of his stepdaughter, was reinstated on August 11 and appointed the Director General of Police at the Directorate for Civil Rights Enforcement.
The DGP rank officer was questioned regarding Ranya Rao’s use of an official state car when she returned from Dubai.