A special magistrate court for economic offences in Bengaluru has allowed a plea by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to interrogate the Kannada film actress Ranya Rao alias Harshavardini Ranya, 34, in prison for two days in connection with its findings in a gold smuggling case in which the actress was arrested on March 3.
The DRI approached the special court for economic offences last week with an application to question the actress Ranya Rao at the Bengaluru Central Prison regarding a company she established in Dubai to serve as a front for gold smuggling and her connections to a smuggling syndicate.
The special court ruled Wednesday that the DRI “has made out valid, justifiable and tenable grounds to accord permission to obtain her statements at Central Prison, Bengaluru”.
The court has said that DRI officials “are permitted to obtain the statement of accused No.1 on 24.04.2025 and 25.04.2025 between 10-30 am and 05-30 pm at Central Prison, Bengaluru with the help of laptop, key board, printer and other stationary items.”
The special court order allowing the DRI to question the actress in prison came even as the Karnataka High Court on April 22 reserved its orders in bail pleas filed by Ranya Rao and her associate, the Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru, in the gold smuggling case.
The gold smuggling case emerged after Ranya Rao, who is the daughter of a senior Karnataka police officer, was intercepted at the Bengaluru International Airport by the DRI on March 3 with 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore concealed on her body.
Ranya Rao arrived from Dubai on an Emirates flight when she was intercepted based on specific intelligence and was later arrested by the DRI.
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The DRI alleged during recent court arguments that Ranya Rao and Virat Konduru, 36, and a hawala dealer, Sahil Jain, 26, who was a receiver of the smuggled gold, were part of a gold smuggling syndicate that had smuggled over 100 kg of gold since 2024.
“The instant application discloses investigations having revealed the conspiracy between accused Nos.1 to 3 and also the existence of a syndicate. The investigating agency is requesting the permission of this court to obtain the statement of accused No.1 with respect to incriminating materials forthcoming from the investigation,” the special court said.
The DRI has reported in remand applications that the actress smuggled as much as 49.6 kg of gold valued at over Rs 40 crore from Dubai between November 2024 and February 2025 (apart from the 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore that was seized on March 3 by the DRI). The actress is alleged to have handed over the contraband to the hawala dealer Sahil Jain, who allegedly paid for the consignments through hawala transfers to Dubai and India.
The DRI has claimed to have found evidence, through customs declarations and investigations of the accused, of as many as 11 of 31 trips undertaken by the actors to Dubai in 2024-25 involving smuggling of gold. The quantum of gold smuggled by the syndicate has been estimated by the DRI to be over 100 kg in arguments presented in the high court.
