BENGALURU: Bengaluru based actress Ranya Rao, caught in foreign origin gold bars smuggling case at Kempegowda International Airport, Devanahalli on March 3, was on Friday remanded to 3-days custody of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) by a Special Court for Economic Offences, Bengaluru. The Court heard her bail plea on Thursday and reserved its order for Friday. DRI sought her custody to investigate, if any, larger gold smuggling networks, is behind her and the sleuths suspect accused Ranya Rao might have been a mule. The sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, acting on a specific tip off, caught actress Ranya Rao, daughter of senior IPS officer Dr K. Ramachandra Rao, with foreign origin gold bars valued at Rs 12.56 crore on March 3 when she arrived from Dubai.Upon examination by the sleuths, the actress was allegedly caught with gold bars weighing 14.2 kg which were found ingeniously concealed. The contraband was confiscated by the sleuths of DRI under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962.After successful interception of the actress, DRI sleuths then raided the residence of her located on Lavelle Road in Bengaluru city and came across gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and in Indian currency the same gold jewellery valued at Rs 2.67 crore. The 33-year-old actress was arrested under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962 and the Court remanded her to judicial custody.In all, DRI sleuths seized 14.2 kg of foreign origin gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore and other assets belonging to the actress valued at Rs 4.73 crore. The total seizure made by the sleuths of DRI stands at Rs 17.29 crore. DRI officials stated “the capture of 14.4 kg of foreign origin gold bars is one of the biggest seizures of gold at the Kempegowda International Airport in recent times” and termed the successful interception of the passenger actress Ranya Rao at Kempegowda International Airport “a significant blow to organized gold smuggling networks.”
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