Bengaluru gold smuggling case: After ED and CBI probes, Kannada actor Ranya Rao now faces I-T investigation

The assistant director of I-T (Investigations) applied last week seeking court permission to record the statement of Rao, 33, at the Bengaluru Central Prison regarding her earnings from alleged gold smuggling activities.

The I-T department argued that the actor, who was arrested on March 3 from the Bengaluru International Airport for smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore, was involved in the smuggling activity by using resources generated from “unexplained sources and cash”.

It sought to probe the unexplained sources by recording her statement in prison over a three-day period.

B S Girish, the counsel for Rao, argued that the provisions of the Customs Act and the I-T Act are distinct, and so she cannot be compelled to give a statement under the provisions of the I-T Act, which would be contrary to Article 22 of the Constitution.

The special public prosecutor of the I-T department, however, argued that I-T authorities are empowered to investigate and that she needs to be probed about the huge cash she allegedly mobilised and circulated for acquiring and selling gold from Dubai.

“The objections of the accused No.1 as to the statement U/s.131(1) of the Act is contrary to Article 22 of the Indian Constitution cannot be accepted as the Act very much permits the recording of statement as a part of investigation, in view of the applicant being vested with powers of a civil court,” the special court ruled Monday.

“The other objections as to the Customs Act and IT Act being distinct enactments in itself will not come in the way to permit the applicant/Department to investigate into the allegations against the accused No.1 on the basis of credible information,” the special court said.

Ranya Rao gold smuggling case timeline

On March 3, The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested Rao from the airport on her arrival from Dubai with concealed on her body.

On March 9, the DRI arrested Telugu actor Tarun Konduru, a US passport holder, after he was identified as an alleged accomplice of Rao in the gold smuggling racket.

On March 26, the DRI arrested Sahil Jain, 27, a hawala dealer and associate of Rao, who allegedly received the gold smuggled by the actors and transferred funds through the hawala route to Dubai for the purchase of more gold.

The DRI alleged that Jain played a central role in disposing of 49.6 kg of gold worth Rs 40.13 crore, smuggled from Dubai by Rao, between November 2024 and February 2025.

It also claimed that Jain transferred Rs 39.39 crore of Rao’s earnings to Dubai.

Rao is the stepdaughter of the senior Karnataka IPS officer K Ramachandra Rao.

She is alleged to have used airport protocol services available to her father to escape customs checks and detection at the Bengaluru airport on arrival from Dubai.

The DRI also alleged that Rao and her associates smuggled 100 kg of gold in the 2024-25 period.

It said Jain is part of a sophisticated smuggling network operating in India and abroad.

A prosecution complaint was filed against him by the agency in a Kolkata court on March 5, 202, in a case involving the smuggling of 41.64 kg of gold.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are also investigating the gold smuggling case from criminal and money laundering angles and have registered cases.

The ED recently carried out searches on properties, including offices of an education trust belonging to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on the grounds that there had been monetary transactions between the trust and Rao.

The trust, headquartered in Tumakuru in Karnataka, is alleged to have made a payment of Rs 40 lakh towards her credit card bills.

Courts in Bengaluru granted Rao, Konduru, and Jain statutory bail after the DRI failed to file prosecution complaints (chargesheets) against them within 60 days of their arrest.

However, the accused trio remain in prison on account of the Union Department of Revenue invoking the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974, against them on April 22.

The COFEPOSA Act allows the preventive detention of persons for a period of up to one year.

Last month, her mother H P Rohini filed a habeas corpus plea in the Karnataka High Court over the continued detention of her daughter.

The matter was, however, adjourned by two weeks on June 3 after the court was informed that the advisory panel for confirming the COFEPOSA detention order of Rao was yet to meet.