Karnataka drops CID inquiry into misuse of airport protocol by Ranya Rao as CBI enters gold smuggling probe

Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Thursday that the home department’s order for an inquiry was withdrawn since “there would have been two probes into the same issue” if both inquiries were allowed to continue. Sources said the CID will now assist the probe conducted by the IAS officer.

The government order withdrawing the CID inquiry that was earlier directed by the home department was issued on March 11. It states that “Gaurav Gupta, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka, has been appointed as the investigating officer to conduct the investigation and has been instructed to start the investigation immediately and submit the investigation report to the government within a week.”

“In this case, the home department has decided to withdraw the government order dated: 10.03.2025 as a senior officer has been appointed to investigate and submit a report,” says the home department order dated March 11, 2025.

Reasons for withdrawal of home department’s probe order

With a senior DGP-rank officer being the subject of the investigation, the government was of the view that the probe needs to be conducted by an officer of a high rank who is outside the police department to indicate the independence of the inquiry, sources said.

With IPS officers falling within the purview of the home department, it was also viewed as necessary for the probe to be conducted under the supervision of a non-IPS official. The senior DGP-rank IPS official whose actress stepdaughter is at the centre of the gold smuggling episode is considered to be close to the Karnataka home minister as well, sources said.

The order for IAS officer Gaurav Gupta to conduct an inquiry into the misuse of protocol facilities available to senior government servants at Bengaluru International Airport is based on reports that protocol services available to senior IPS officer K Ramachandra Rao—who is the managing director of the Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation—were misused by his stepdaughter Ranya Rao to smuggle gold.

“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, State IPS Group, Mr Ramachandra Rao, IPS, Managing Director, Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Corporation in this case,” states the DPAR order.

The order states that IAS officer Gaurav Gupta “has been appointed to investigate the facts and circumstances leading to the ‘availment’ of the protocol facilities” and the role of IPS officer Ramachandra Rao.

CBI probe

The CBI has, meanwhile, registered an FIR to investigate the gold smuggling at Bengaluru International Airport and a similar incident at Mumbai airport. The CBI FIR was registered on March 7 on the basis of a letter by Abhai Kumar Srivastav, Director-General, DRI.

The CBI FIR is registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 along with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section for criminal conspiracy.

According to the complaint by the DRI to CBI Director Praveen Sood, two foreigners (an Omani and a UAE national) were arrested at Mumbai International Airport on March 6 while trying to smuggle 21.28 kg of gold valued at Rs 18.92 crore from Dubai. The foreigners had arrived at the Mumbai airport on multiple earlier occasions as well, the DRI said.

Since the DRI on March 3 arrested actress Ranya Rao, who had also travelled multiple times to Dubai, the two separate cases were considered similar, the DRI has stated in its letter to the CBI.

“The above two cases detected in quick succession involving passengers making trips from Dubai, the attempted smuggling of large quantities of gold into India and the high frequency of these visits involving Indian and foreign nationals, points to a possible nexus with a coordinated smuggling syndicate, possibly operating from Dubai (UAE),” says the DRI chief’s letter to the CBI director.

“This may have larger national and international ramifications. The possibility of involvement of unknown public servants of the Govt. of India and unknown others, with such a coordinated network, needs to be investigated,” adds the letter.

The CBI has started investigations in the case and is reported to have collected evidence from the residence of the actress in Bengaluru earlier this week.

Ranya Rao’s arrest

Kannada actress Ranya Rao alias Harshavardini Ranya, 33, was arrested by the DRI at the Bengaluru airport on arrival from Dubai on March 3 for allegedly attempting to smuggle 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore on her person. Searches at her residence by the DRI led to the recovery of gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in cash.

The actress is alleged to have travelled to Dubai as many as 27 times in the span of six months. The DRI has suggested that some of these trips may have also involved gold smuggling.

The DRI has claimed that the gold smuggling at the Bengaluru International Airport was done by using state police protocol services and that the actress was intercepted after she claimed that she had nothing to declare at the customs area and used a green channel to exit the area.

A physical search of the actress after she exited the customs area using police protocol services resulted in the finding of 14.2 kg of gold bars, which had been taped onto different parts of her body with medical plaster and covered with bandages, the DRI has said in court.

The DRI has placed in a special court in Bengaluru a statement given by the police protocol official at the airport, which stated that he had been instructed to provide protocol services to the family of the DGP-rank police officer.

The DRI argued that Ranya Rao received funds through hawala channels to buy gold in Dubai and arranged for the transfer of the gold. The gold smuggling operation indicates the existence of a syndicate, and there is a need to find the source of funds for the activities of the actress and an associate who has been arrested, the DRI has stated.