The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has questioned a senior police officer in Karnataka over an alleged gold smuggling racket in which his step-daughter, Kannada film actress Ranya Rao alias Harshavardhini Ranya, 33, was arrested in March this year. Ranya was arrested at the Bengaluru airport with 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹ 12.5 crore.
The DRI this week questioned K Ramachandra Rao, a director general of police rank officer, regarding his knowledge of the alleged gold smuggling racket, and he may be questioned again, sources said.
Rao was reportedly also questioned regarding Ranya’s use of an official state car that was provided to him when she returned from Dubai following alleged smuggling runs.
“Summons were issued and the official was questioned over a long period,” a source said.
Rao, who was sent on compulsory leave in March after Ranya’s arrest, was reinstated on August 11 and appointed as the director general of police at the Directorate of Civil Rights and Enforcement.
The DRI has sought court permission to record Ranya’s statement in prison under Section 108 of the Customs Act. A special court for economic offences has granted the DRI time on August 25 for recording a statement.
While seeking permission for recording the statement, the DRI told the special court that it has found more incriminating evidence against the actress and that this “warrants recording of statement U/s.108 of the Customs Act”.
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“The instant application discloses investigation having revealed the conspiracy between accused Nos.1 to 3 and so also the existence of syndicate,” the court noted.
The court also noted that Ranya’s statement was recorded in prison on August 12 based on “permission accorded by Ministry of Finance, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, (COFEPOSA Wing) vide letter dated: 08-08-2025 addressed to Chief Superintendent, Central Prison, Bengaluru”.
Sophisticated smuggling network: DRI
Ranya Rao was arrested on March 3 when she arrived from Dubai on an Emirates flight and allegedly attempted to smuggle 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹ 12.56 crore by concealing it on her person.
Investigations have revealed that Ranya used the police protocol services available to her stepfather at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru every time she arrived from Dubai.
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Rao was reportedly in touch with Ranya during her Dubai visits and also with the protocol officer at the airport on her return from Dubai. As per the DRI, Ranya travelled 27 times to Dubai since January 2025, apart from several other visits in 2024.
The DRI has also alleged that Ranya smuggled 49.6 kg of gold valued at over ₹ 40 crore from Dubai between November 2024 and February 2025 (apart from the 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹ 12.56 crore that was seized on March 3 by the DRI at the Bengaluru airport).
The actress is alleged to have handed over the contraband to a hawala dealer, Sahil Jain, 27, who paid for the consignments through hawala transfers of funds to Dubai and India. The DRI arrested Jain on March 26 after he was allegedly identified as the intended recipient of the 14.2 kg of gold smuggled from Dubai by Ranya, in association with Telugu actor Tarun Konduru Raju, whose US passport was allegedly used to pass gold through the Dubai airport Customs checks. Jain’s uncle Bharat has also been arrested in the case.
All the accused are part of a sophisticated smuggling network operating in India and abroad, the DRI has alleged.
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Though Ranya and Raju have been granted bail in the smuggling case, they have been detained, along with Sahil Jain, for a year under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act through an April 22 order of the Indian government.