Bengaluru smuggling case: Ranya Rao and Tarun Konduru brought 100 kg of gold from Dubai to India, DRI tells court
The agency stated that through the analysis of the Customs declarations made in Dubai by the two accused and the amount of gold found to have been received by hawala dealer Sahil Jain, who has also been arrested in the case, it found that 100 kg of gold was smuggled, apart from the 14.2 kg of gold seized from Ranya Rao at the Bengaluru airport on March 3.
The agency said that it had found evidence of gold smuggling in 11 of the 31 visits undertaken by the actors to Dubai since early 2024. It added that it was looking for more evidence to link their trips to instances of gold smuggling. The actors had gone to Dubai on 25 occasions on single-day trips, the court was informed.
The counsel for the DRI, Madhu N Rao, told the single-judge bench during the arguments that it had obtained four more Customs declarations pertaining to 2024 during the investigations. The court directed the DRI counsel to provide all details of the declarations.
The high court also asked the DRI counsel how Ranya Rao had obtained special protocol services available to government officials at the Bengaluru airport during her return trips from the US. The counsel said that Ranya availed the protocol services at the airport on account of instructions given by her stepfather, senior DGP-rank police officer Ramachandra Rao, to a police constable who was handling the protocol services at the airport.
The counsel for Ranya Rao earlier argued that the DRI did not follow search and arrest procedures mandated by the Customs Act while intercepting the actress on March 3 on her arrival from Dubai. The counsel for Virat Konduru, meanwhile, argued that his client was not connected to the smuggling activities.
The DRI has alleged that the two accused used Konduru's US passport to pass the large quantities of gold through Dubai Customs checks by claiming that the gold was being taken to Geneva, Bangkok and the US.
The high court will hear the case again on Tuesday.
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