Bengaluru:
Actor Ranya Rao, stepdaughter of senior Indian Police Service officer Ramachandra Rao, broke down on the court premises after she was remanded in the custody of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence until March 10 in the gold smuggling case.
Ms Rao, 33, was caught allegedly smuggling gold bars weighing 14.2 kg, worth around Rs 14.5 crore, at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Monday night. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had sought her custodial interrogation to probe the source of the gold and where it was headed. It had also said that her activities could be a threat to national security.
Granting her custody to the DRI till 4 pm on March 10, a special court for economic offences in Bengaluru instructed the Kannada actor to cooperate with the investigation officer in the case and allowed her to meet her advocate for half an hour every day. It also directed the DRI not to threaten her and provide all basic facilities as per Supreme Court guidelines.
After the court passed its order, Ms Rao broke down and began crying in the court hall.
Ms Rao came under the radar of DRI officials after she made her fourth visit to Dubai in 15 days. Following her arrest, she admitted that she was carrying 17 gold bars and had travelled to Europe, America, the Middle East, Dubai and Saudi Arabia in the past. Sources had said earlier that she had made 27 trips to Dubai over the past year.
The 33-year-old, who made her debut with the 2014 movie ‘Maanikya’ starring Kichcha Sudeep, had also offered to cooperate with the investigators.
Ms Rao was reportedly a part of a smuggling network and took hefty commissions – Rs 4-5 lakh per kg – to bring in gold from Dubai to Bengaluru.
The seizure of 14.2 kg gold is one of the biggest at the Bengaluru airport in recent times and subsequent searches at Ms Rao’s residence led to the recovery of gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in Indian currency.
Ms Rao had told investigators that her father is KS Hegdesh, a real estate businessman, and her husband, Jatin Hukkeri, is an architect who lives with her in Bengaluru.
Ramachandra Rao, the Director-General of Police of the Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation, is her stepfather. Mr Rao has denied his involvement in the alleged smuggling and said he was “devastated” by the news of his stepdaughter’s arrest.
