Gold smuggling case: Ranya Rao regularly used IPS officer stepfather’s airport protocol services, shows probe

Ranya Rao was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on March 3 when she arrived from Dubai on an Emirates flight and attempted to smuggle 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore by concealing it on her person.

Based on prior intelligence, the DRI intercepted the actress after she walked through a customs department green channel without declaring the gold while using the police protocol service available to her stepfather to exit the customs area.

Following the arrest of the actress and the revelation that she used the police protocol services, the state government’s Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms ordered an inquiry by senior IAS officer Gaurav Gupta on March 10 into the allegations of the misuse of protocol services.

“The government considers it necessary to conduct an investigation into the facts and circumstances that led to her availing the protocol facilities and the role of the Director General of Police, Mr. Ramachandra Rao, IPS, Managing Director, Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Corporation in this case,” the DPAR order stated.

The inquiry by the senior IAS officer has been completed and a report is in the process of being submitted to the Karnataka government, said sources familiar with the development. The inquiry panel was given a week to submit its report.

The inquiry has found through official records that Ramachandra Rao was in touch with his stepdaughter during her Dubai visits and also with the protocol officer at the airport on her return from Dubai. Ranya Rao is reported by the DRI to have travelled 27 times to Dubai since January 2025, apart from several visits in 2024.

On three previous arrivals from Dubai—prior to the March 3 arrival—the actress had been received at the airport by an official state car assigned to the IPS officer, sources said.

The ongoing DRI probe in the gold smuggling case has revealed that Basappa Billur, a Bengaluru police constable who was the protocol officer at the airport, had been instructed by Ramachandra Rao to assist his family members and relatives by extending protocol services during their arrival and departure. He has said he had been assisting Ranya Rao for many years at the airport.

The extension of the protocol services through the police department is strictly available only to IPS officers of the rank of superintendent of police and above. The rule has been enforced by some senior police officials under whose jurisdiction the airport operates, but the services have been extended to friends and family of all officers beyond the stipulation by others.

Meanwhile, a special court for economic offences in Bengaluru on Wednesday rejected a bail plea filed by Telugu actor Tarun Konduru Raju alias Virat Konduru, 30, an associate of Ranya Rao. He was arrested by the DRI in the gold smuggling case on March 9.

Konduru, a US citizen, is alleged to have used his passport credentials to help Ranya Rao declare gold purchased in Dubai and intended to be smuggled to India as gold that was being taken to Geneva or Bangkok to pass customs checks at Dubai airport.