Ranya Rao, a Kannada film actress, was arrested for smuggling gold after being watched for months by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Her father, K Ramachandra Rao, a senior police officer, said he is not involved in her actions.
The DRI suspected Ranya because she traveled a lot to Dubai with her husband, Jatin Hukkeri, who is an architect. They noticed a strange pattern: she made four trips to Dubai in just 15 days! In total, she traveled to Dubai 30 times last year, which made officials think she might be involved in smuggling.
On Monday, when she returned to Bengaluru, she tried to avoid security checks with help from a police constable named Basavaraju. DRI stopped her and found gold in her bag. Ranya was arrested and taken for questioning. When they investigated her home, they found gold jewelry worth ₹2.06 crore (around $250,000) and ₹2.67 crore (around $330,000) in cash.
The DRI confirmed that the total value of everything they found is around ₹17.29 crore (over $2 million), which includes 14.2 kg of gold. Ranya has been accused under the Customs Act and is now in jail for 14 days. During questioning, she claimed someone forced her to smuggle.
Meanwhile, the police arrested the constable Basavaraju for helping her challenge security at the airport. Ranya’s stepfather, DGP K Ramachandra Rao, stated he has no connection to her smuggling activities, saying she got married only a few months ago and hasn’t talked to him since.
The Karnataka Home Minister, G. Parameshwara, has asked for a detailed report from the police following Ranya’s arrest. He mentioned that investigations are ongoing, but he cannot comment more until they get more information.
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