BENGALURU: With the gold smuggling racket involving Kannada actor Ranya Rao getting murkier by the day as three central investigation agencies keep digging deeper, Karnataka government on Saturday ordered DGP (Karnataka Police Housing Corporation) Ramachandra Rao, her father, to go on ‘compulsory leave’.
Ranya was reportedly being escorted by a police constable deployed for protocol services extended to IPS officers when she was intercepted by DRI sleuths at Bengaluru airport while trying to smuggle in 14.2 kg gold from Dubai on March 3. The constable, during questioning, revealed he had standing instructions to receive Ranya whenever she returned from her foreign trips, and that he had no idea of gold being smuggled in.
Ranya Rao rules out father’s involvement in gold smuggling
Sources said state govt directed DGP (Karnataka Police Housing Corporation) Ramachandra Rao to go on leave in a bid to avoid any possible embarrassment, with CBI and ED now on the case of gold smuggling racket involving Kannada actor Ranya Rao, citing national security concerns. The senior IPS officer is likely to be summoned by the central agencies for questioning next week, sources added.
Meanwhile, Ranya has written to DRI’s additional director general, through chief superintendent of Bengaluru Central Prison, ruling out her father’s involvement in the gold smuggling case, & claiming she was being falsely implicated. In the five-page letter, dated March 6, she alleged she was roughed up and threatened. “I was apprehended from inside the aircraft and arrested without being given an opportunity to explain. From the time of my apprehension to being produced in court, I was hit and slapped on the face at least 10-15 times by officials whom I can identify. One of them said if I didn’t sign the documents prepared by them, they would expose my father’s name and identity, despite knowing he was not involved,” the letter stated.
Ranya further said owing to immense pressure and physical assault, she was forced to sign 50-60 typed pages and around 40 blank pages, and that no mahazar was ever conducted, unlike what was claimed. “Some persons from Delhi, said to be officers, clearly wanted to shield some other passengers and falsely implicated me,” her letter said.
