Bengaluru: Kannada actor and model Ranya Rao has allegedly confessed that money to purchase gold in Dubai was transferred through hawala channels. This was submitted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) before a sessions court in Bengaluru on Tuesday. The court is hearing Ranya’s bail plea.
Ranya was arrested from the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru earlier this month on charges of smuggling gold from Dubai. She was allegedly carrying 14.8 kg of gold with her at the time of her arrest. The gold was valued at Rs 12.56 crore.
Ranya, step daughter of a DGP rank officer in Karnataka, had moved two courts for bail but the prayers were rejected. Her appeal is now pending before the sessions court, where hearing concluded on Tuesday. The court will announce its decision on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the DRI submitted that a notice under Section 108 has been issued for a judicial probe against Ranya. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also started a probe after the DRI claimed that the actor was part of a gold smuggling syndicate.
The Karnataka government has also sent her step father on compulsory leave and initiated an inquiry into his possible involvement. It has been alleged that Ranya misused certain privileges allowed to the families of officers of his rank, to skip security checks at airports. It is being checked whether the senior police officer was aware of this.
The DRI has also claimed that Ranya visited Dubai 52 times between 2023 and 2025. She has not been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for travelling to that emirate so frequently.
Ranya, on her part, claimed torture by the DRI and said that she was forced to sign on several typed documents and blank pages, while in the Agency’s custody. She also claimed that she was not carrying any gold but had been falsely implicated by a DRI official from Delhi, who was trying to save somebody else.
