The Karnataka High Court Friday rejected habeas corpus petitions from actress Ranya Rao, who has been accused of smuggling gold from Dubai, as well as co-accused Tarun Konduru Raju and Sahil Jain. The order was passed by a division bench consisting of Justices Anu Sivaraman and Vijaykumar A Patil.
The petitions called for the writ of habeas corpus, which would declare the COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) detention order of the three accused illegal and ‘void ab initio’ (void from the beginning).
Rao was arrested on March 3 at the Bengaluru airport while allegedly attempting to evade customs duty to the tune of Rs 4.83 crore by strapping a large quantity of smuggled gold on her body using bandages. Raju is also alleged to have had a role in the smuggling operation, while Jain had allegedly acted as a hawala agent in the matter.
On April 26, the Karnataka High Court had rejected a bail plea by the accused, noting the grave effect of economic offences on the nation’s economy. Among other issues was the possibility of a flight risk, as Rao is a movie star. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had also stated before the high court that the three accused had smuggled over 100 kg of gold into India over the course of multiple trips, with the 14.2 kg of gold seized from Rao being worth Rs 12.56 crore. They had stated at the time that out of 34 trips to Dubai by the accused, at least 11 had involved gold smuggling.
Meanwhile, the COFEPOSA detention order dated April 22 would mean that the accused could be detained for up to a year even if bail had been obtained.
In prior arguments in this case, Rao’s counsel had stated that the grounds of arrest had not been properly provided to her and raised the issue of procedural irregularities. On the other hand, the State had argued that a pen drive with the relevant information had been shown to Rao, and as it was not possible to hand it over to her due to jail rules, it was given to one of her legal representatives.
With regard to the alleged role of Raju, Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamath had stated, “He has extensively travelled to Dubai and other African countries in a lookout for how to source gold. He was a partner in a company by the name of Veera Diamonds. The billing was done in that name… therefore, Tarun Raju has played a significant role, which forms a link in the chain of smuggling.”
A detailed copy of Friday’s order is awaited.