Ranya Rao gold smuggling case: Special court rejects bail plea of hawala dealer Sahil Jain citing his record

Jain was arrested on March 26 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) after he was identified as the intended recipient of 14.2 kg of gold smuggled from Dubai by Ranya Rao in association with Telugu actor Tarun Konduru Raju. The actress was arrested at Bengaluru International Airport on March 3 following her arrival from Dubai with the gold valued at Rs 12.56 crore.

“On overall examination of the case papers, it transpires that, the investigation is under progress and the allegations against the accused No.3 (Sahil Jain) is serious in nature as to having assisted and abetted the accused No.1 (Ranya Rao), by facilitating Hawala transactions for transferring of monies so as to enable illegal smuggling of the gold into India weighing 1,4213.05 grams of gold, though he had knowledge as to the said act being contrary to the Customs Act, at this stage inclines the court to gather the existence of culpable mental state U/s 138A of the Act,” the special court ruled.

The court ruled that Jain’s role in disposing of the smuggled gold at the behest of Ranya Rao, transferring Rs 39.39 crore of the earnings to Dubai via the hawala route and his history of receiving smuggled gold, as alleged by the DRI, are all factors that led to the denial of bail.

The argument that Jain who was not caught “with contraband in his possession cannot be brought within the ambit of Section 135(1)(a) & (b) of the Customs Act is untenable” since the law says that any person involved “in any other manner, dealing with goods, which he knows or has reason to believe are liable to confiscation U/s.111 or Section 113,” the court said.

The court indicated that the DRI had found Jain to be part of a sophisticated smuggling network operating in India and abroad.

DRI counsel Madhu N Rao had earlier told the court that Jain was a key player in the gold smuggling racket in Bengaluru which has emerged following the arrest of the actress.