The special court dismissed Kannada star Ranya Rao's bail petition for economic offenses in the gold smuggling case, noting the 'seriousness of charges' against her. Following her arrest at the airport, she was sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody. Tarun Raju, the second culprit, was sentenced to 15 days in judicial detention.
Ranya Rao's gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore were confiscated at Bengaluru International Airport. Officials then searched her houses, seizing gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in cash.
The Enforcement Directorate opened an inquiry into the situation.
Suspicions were raised over her husband Jatin Hukkeri's potential participation in the gold smuggling case when she used his credit card to buy round-trip tickets from Bengaluru to Dubai.
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Following that, searches were carried out at nine Bengaluru sites connected to Hukkeri by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). To stop the DRI from detaining him, he was able to secure an interim order from the Karnataka High Court.
Ranya was arrested on March 3 for allegedly smuggling gold worth Rs 12.56 crore. During the investigation, authorities discovered that she had made frequent trips to Dubai, which had already caught the attention of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Officials had been monitoring her movements and suspected her of following a common smuggling pattern. Upon her latest return from Dubai, she was intercepted at the airport, and authorities recovered 12 gold bars of foreign origin from her possession.