Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who was arrested with 14 kg gold bars worth Rs 14.56 crore at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, has been sent to a three-day Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) custody on Friday. A special court for economic offences granted the custodial interrogation after the DRI said that the actor needed to be investigated on matters concerning national security implications and to break the syndicate of gold smuggling.
The Revenue officials had requested Ms Rao’s custody from March 9 to March 11.
Ranya Rao, the 33-year-old stepdaughter of a senior IPS officer, was caught smuggling gold on Monday at the Bengaluru Airport. She was carrying 14.2 kg of gold, some of which she was wearing and the rest was concealed in her clothes. The officials tracking her movement grew suspicious since this was her fourth Dubai trip in 15 days and confronted her, leading to the seizure. She was just a few feet away from the exit when the revenue officials caught her.
Subsequently, officials searched her home, where she lived with her husband, and found gold jewelry worth Rs. 2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to Rs. 2.67 crore.
Ms Rao was reportedly a part of a smuggling network and took hefty commissions to smuggle goods from Dubai to Bengaluru – about Rs 4-5 lakh to smuggle a kilogram of gold.
In a confession to the revenue officials, the actor admitted that 17 gold bars were found on her and revealed the details of her international trips. “I have travelled to Europe, America, and (the) Middle East and have visited Dubai, Saudi Arabia. I wish to state that I am tired at present as I did not get enough rest,” the statement read.
It was earlier reported that she made 27 trips to Dubai last year that brought her under the scanner of the revenue officials.
Revealing her family details, Ms Rao said that her father is KS Hegdesh, a real estate businessman, and her husband is Jatin Hukkeri, an architect who lives with her in Bengaluru. She had also agreed to cooperate with the investigators, the statement said.
