Bengaluru: Reacting to allegations of gold smuggling, Kannada actress Ranya Rao revealed to authorities she had purchased seventeen gold bars from Dubai. She also provided details about her foreign travel, which had drawn agency investigation under invitation.
Ranya said in her statement, per NDTV, that she has visited Dubai and Saudi Arabia among other locations in Europe, the US, and the Middle East. Her frequent trips to Dubai—27 times exactly—put her under observation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
The actress also disclosed details about her family: her husband, Jatin Hukkeri, is an architect living in Bengaluru; her father, K.S. Hegde, owns a real estate company. Ramachandra Rao, her stepfather, heads Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation.
On the evening of March 3 at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, Ranya Rao was detained and authorities seized 14 kg of gold valued roughly ₹14.5 crore from her. Her fourth journey to Dubai in fifteen days caught officials monitoring her activity suspiciously. A raid at her house following her detention turned up ₹2 crore worth of jewels and ₹2.67 crore in cash.
According to IANS, the actress allegedly belonged to a smuggling network and received pay ranging from ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh each kilogramme of gold imported from Dubai to Bengaluru. She allegedly hid part of the gold in her clothes and wore some of it as jewellery to evade notice.
Reacting to the situation, Ranya Rao’s stepfather Ramachandra Rao was taken aback by her detention on allegations of gold smuggling. Speaking on Wednesday, Karnataka DGP said his professional image was still intact and that he had not interacted with Ranya following her marriage four months ago.
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