Probe into Bengaluru gold smuggling case indicates possible links to proclaimed offender in 2013 Delhi airport case

2013 gold smuggling case in Delhi

On March 11, 2013, a Delhi-based jewellery businessman Komal Jain, aged around 50, was detained at the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi on the basis of intelligence gathered by the DRI on his alleged involvement in gold smuggling using an UAE embassy official as a courier.

The businessman, who arrived on a flight from Singapore, was found to be in possession of documents for the purchase of over 30 kg of gold jewellery while checks conducted by DRI officials on the baggage of a UAE embassy official who arrived on the same flight revealed the presence of 36.56 kg of gold worth Rs 9.79 crore at the time.

The next day, DRI arrested Komal for smuggling gold while the UAE official, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity from arrest, was sent back to Dubai by the UAE authorities.

Subsequently, on June 11, 2013, Komal was detained under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) on the basis of an order issued by the central government’s Department of Revenue.

While Komal was held in preventive detention under COFEPOSA, a habeas corpus petition was moved in the Delhi High Court for his release by his son, who identified himself as Sahil Jain.

“Petitioner Sahil Jain has approached this Court for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for release of his father Komal Jain, who has been ordered to be detained and kept in custody in the Central Jail, Tihar by an order dated 11.06.2013 issued under Section 3 (1) of the COFEPOSA Act by the Joint Secretary to the Govt of India,” the court noted in a November 13, 2013, order for the release of Komal Jain.

DRI sources said that the Sahil Jain who filed the habeas corpus plea is in all probability the same person who has now been detained under COFEPOSA for being the receiver of the gold smuggled from Dubai by Ranya Rao.

In the records of the Bengaluru case involving Ranya Rao, the hawala dealer Sahil Jain arrested on March 26, 2025, has been identified as the son of one Mahendra Kumar Jain, a businessman from Bellary in Karnataka. However, sources said, “There is the possibility of a different name being used.”

Komal Jain goes missing

Incidentally, the gold smuggling suspect Komal Jain disappeared following his release from detention under COFEPOSA in November 2013. The DRI case and a money laundering case filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are still pending with the Patiala House Courts in Delhi.

“NBWs issued against the accused (Komal Jain) were received back unexecuted with report of Assistant Enforcement Officer that he visited the address of accused, where Mr Sahil Jain, son of accused, met them and stated that accused is not staying there and has not visited the said address for the last three/four years and he does not know the whereabouts of the accused,” a special court for ED cases noted in its order on September 24, 2018.

The missing Komal Jain was declared a proclaimed offender by a special court for DRI cases in Delhi on January 27, 2020, and is yet to appear in court for the pending trial in the case.

Komal Jain was also accused in a 2009 gold smuggling case by the customs authorities after he allegedly used the front of a gold jewellery business at Noida SEZ to bring in finished gold jewellery from big firms instead of exporting it after importing impure gold.

A DRI search at a business unit called Vee Ess Jewellers Pvt Ltd, operated by Komal Jain in New Delhi in 2009, led to the seizure of 41.31 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 5.57 crore at the time. The DRI had accused Komal and others of a conspiracy to smuggle high-end gold jewellery into India from Dubai, Sharjah and Singapore in the guise of duty-free import of raw materials to an SEZ unit for the manufacture of gold jewellery for exports. The 2009 case against Komal, however, did not sustain in the courts.

Sahil Jain, a key operative in Bengaluru case

In the current gold smuggling case in Bengaluru, the DRI has identified Sahil Jain, 27 – who has gold smuggling cases registered against him in Mumbai and Kolkata during 2019-2022 – as a key operative in a larger smuggling network. The agency has stated in court filings that Sahil is part of a “highly sophisticated gold smuggling network” which needs to be further investigated.

Ranya Rao, co-accused Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru, and Sahil are under detention for a year under COFEPOSA after the Union government issued an order on April 22 for their detention to prevent involvement in further gold smuggling activities.

According to DRI sources, Sahil’s father (Komal Jain/Mahendra Kumar Jain) is currently not being sought by the agency in the Bengaluru gold smuggling case.

Advocate C V Siju, who has been appearing for Sahil Jain in the current gold smuggling case in Bengaluru, said DRI did not question Sahil’s father in the Bengaluru case.

The Sahil Jain arrested in Bengaluru was also allegedly involved in a major gold smuggling racket operating out of Kolkata in 2019-2020 and was named in a DRI prosecution complaint in Kolkata in 2022, the agency has stated in court.

In the 2019-2020 period, the DRI received intelligence that a smuggling syndicate operating from Kolkata, Mumbai and Raipur was smuggling foreign-marked gold from Bangladesh through the Indo-Bangladesh borders of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Based on the intelligence, the DRI carried out operations to recover the smuggled gold and intercepted persons carrying smuggled gold in Kolkata, Raipur and Mumbai, leading to the recovery of 41.64 kg of gold.

Initially, one of the gold carriers who was found with 6.98 kg of gold in Mumbai in December 2019 reported that the intended receiver of the gold was Sahil Jain, who was living in Mumbai at the time. Jain was arrested by the DRI and found to be a key player in the smuggling racket.

In Bengaluru, the DRI has stated that Sahil Jain was the intended receiver of 14.2 kg of gold valued at Rs 12.56 crore that was found on the person of Ranya on March 3 at the Bengaluru airport on her arrival from Dubai. The smuggling of the 14.2 kg of gold would have resulted in customs duty evasion of Rs 4.83 crore, the DRI has stated.

Prior to Ranya’s arrest, the hawala dealer Sahil Jain was involved in receiving 49.6 kg of smuggled gold valued at Rs 40.13 crore from the actress following visits to Dubai between November 2024 to February 2025, the DRI has stated.

The hawala dealer has claimed that he only received a commission of Rs 55,000 for every consignment of smuggled gold he received from the actress in Bengaluru and for facilitating the transfer of funds from the sales to Dubai.