Latest news with #CofeposaAct
Hindustan Times
16-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Ranya Rao's mother challenges detention under smuggling law
The mother of Kannada film actor Ranya Rao, arrested in a high-profile gold smuggling case, has approached the Karnataka High Court seeking relief from a preventive detention order issued under the stringent Cofeposa Act. HP Rohini, who filed the habeas corpus petition on Thursday, has asked the court to declare that any detention of her daughter under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act would be legally untenable. The matter came up for hearing before a vacation bench of Justices H P Sandesh and Ramachandra Huddar. 'The Centre is expected to file its response when the case resumes on June 3,' said an official in the know of the development. Ranya Rao was taken into custody on March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly bringing in 14.2 kilograms of foreign-origin gold from Dubai through Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. Officials estimate the value of the seized consignment at ₹12.56 crore and claim that the accused attempted to evade customs duties totalling ₹4.83 crore by taping the gold to her body using bandages. Also Read | Karnataka HC junks bail pleas of Ranya Rao, Tarun Raju in gold smuggling case The Ministry of Finance, acting on a request from the DRI, issued a detention order through its Central Economic Intelligence Bureau on April 22. If enforced, the Cofeposa order would allow the authorities to hold Rao and her co-accused in custody for up to one year without regular judicial proceedings, even if they were to be granted bail. Earlier in April, the karnataka high court issued a notice to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) over the bail application filed by Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who is currently in judicial custody for her alleged involvement in a gold smuggling case. Ranya Rao, listed as the first accused in the case, was arrested on March 3 at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. DRI officials claimed to have seized 14.2 kilograms of gold bars valued at ₹12.5 crore from her possession upon her arrival from Dubai. The agency said the gold, if imported legally, would have attracted import duties worth ₹4.83 crore under the current 38.5% rate. Also Read | Why was Ranya Rao granted VIP protocol, police escort: HC Rao, who is also the stepdaughter of Karnataka's Director General of Police K Ramachandra Rao, had earlier been denied bail by the Karnataka High Court. Her alleged accomplice, Telugu actor Tarun Konduru Raju, also remains in custody after his bail plea was rejected. According to the DRI, both actors were in the UAE at the same time, but Raju returned to Hyderabad while Rao landed in Bengaluru, where the smuggling was detected. Following her arrest, two other individuals have also been taken into custody in connection with the case—Tarun Raju, identified as the second accused, and Sahil Jain, listed as the third accused. All three are presently under judicial custody, with their remand extended until April 21. The development comes as on Monday, a Bengaluru Sessions Court also denied bail to Tarun Raju, upholding the earlier decision of the Magistrate Court. His plea was filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, but the court found no justification to overturn the previous order. Raju was arrested on March 10, a week after Rao's arrest, with officials confirming that he had accompanied her on a trip to Dubai prior to the alleged smuggling attempt.
Hindustan Times
27-04-2025
- Hindustan Times
Karnataka HC junks bail pleas of Ranya Rao, Tarun Raju in gold smuggling case
The Karnataka high court on Saturday dismissed the bail petitions filed by Kannada actor Ranya Rao and her Telugu actor friend Tarun Konduru Raju, both of whom are arrested in connection with a gold smuggling case. Justice S Vishwajith Shetty pronounced the order, a detail copy of which was awaited. Rao was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on March 3 after Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials found her in possession of 14.2 kg of gold bars worth ₹12.5 crore, upon her arrival from Dubai, while Raju was taken into custody on March 10. During the hearing in the high court, Rao's counsel Sandesh Chouta argued that she had been 'falsely implicated in the case', while advocate Madhukar N Rao, representing DRI, the prosecuting agency in the case, opposed the bail petitions filed by both actor friends and co-accused. The DRI counsel had informed the court that the agency's probe so far revealed that 100 kilograms of gold had been smuggled by Rao and Raju to India from Dubai. The high court has also asked the federal agency as to how Rao had obtained VIP protocol and police escort at the Bengaluru airport. To this, DRI counsel said it was yet to investigate 'that angle.' Raju's counsel, seeking bail for his client, had denied all allegations against him and said that even if the charges against him were taken at face value, the only allegation against him was that he had travelled to Dubai and handed over the gold to Rao. The federal revenue and intelligence agency had earlier claimed that Rao and Raju made 26 trips together between January and March this year alone. Officials suspect that overall Rao has made 56 trips to Dubai between 2023 and this year. DRI had also told the court that before Rao's arrest at the airport, she had claimed she did not have anything to declare at the green channel. However, when she was searched, gold bars worth over ₹12 crore were recovered from her. Besides DRI, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have also registered separate cases to focus on a larger international syndicate and possible role of government officials in facilitating the smuggling. Cofeposa Act invoked Meanwhile, the Union government has invoked the stringent Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act against Rao, making her ineligible for bail for a period of one year. An order to this effect was issued by the joint secretary of the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Department of Revenue, on April 22. The stringent law was also invoked against the other two accused in the case — Tarun Raju and Sahil Sakaria Jain — both of whom are lodged in the Bengaluru Central Prison along with Rao.
Indian Express
25-04-2025
- Indian Express
Bengaluru gold smuggling case: Centre orders detention of actors Ranya Rao, Virat Konduru for a year under Cofeposa Act
The Centre has issued orders for detention of Kannada film actor Ranya Rao alias Harshavardini Ranya, 34, Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru Raju, 36, and businessman Sahil Sakariya Jain, 26, under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (Cofeposa) Act, 1974. The order for the detention of Ranya Rao and her associates under the Cofeposa Act was issued by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Finance on April 22, on the request of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The Cofeposa Act detention order effectively means that Ranya Rao, Konduru, and Jain, who were arrested in March for alleged gold smuggling activities, will remain in prison for up to a year, even if they are granted bail by the courts for the Customs Act violation cases against them. Ranya Rao was intercepted by DRI at the Bengaluru International Airport on arrival from Dubai on March 3, 2025, with 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore concealed on her person. The DRI investigations after the arrest of the actress revealed that Ranya Rao was assisted in passing the gold through Dubai customs by Virat Konduru by using his US citizen credentials, and that the smuggled gold was handed to hawala businessman Sahil Jain in India for disposal. The DRI recently told the Karnataka High Court that the three were part of a gold smuggling syndicate which had smuggled 100 kg of gold into India since 2024 – apart from the 14.2 kg of gold worth that was seized on March 3 when Ranya Rao was intercepted. According to the April 22 order issued by a joint secretary of the Union Government for the detention of the actress under Cofeposa, Ranya Rao 'will be detained and kept in Central Prison Parappana Agrahara, Bengaluru.' DRI sources said that similar orders have been issued for the detention of Tarun Konduru and Sahil Jain under the Cofeposa Act. According to statements placed in the courts by the DRI in connection with the investigations of the gold smuggling racket, hawala dealer Sahil Jain has a history of gold smuggling and is named in a DRI complaint in Kolkata for being part of a syndicate that smuggled over 115 kg of gold from Bangladesh in 2019. The Cofeposa Act allows the Government of India to place under preventive detention individuals who are considered to be a threat to foreign exchange conservation through their involvement in smuggling activities. The law allows the detention of persons who are involved in smuggling, abetting smuggling, transporting, concealing, or keeping smuggled goods, or abetting the concealing of smuggled goods, up to a maximum period of one year from the date of detention. The Cofeposa Act can be invoked even when a person is in judicial custody, as is the case with actress Ranya Rao and her associates. Rao, Konduru, and Jain have all filed bail pleas in courts, and the two arrested actors are awaiting the verdict of the Karnataka High Court in their bail pleas – which are expected to be taken up next week, while Jain has approached a sessions court. The DRI has reported in remand applications that the actress smuggled as much as 49.6 kg of gold valued at over Rs 40 crore from Dubai between November 2024 and February 2025 (apart from the 14.2 kg of gold that was seized on March 3). The actress is alleged to have handed over the contraband to Sahil Jain, who paid for the consignments through hawala transfers to Dubai and India. The DRI has claimed to have found evidence – through customs declarations and investigations of the accused – of as many as 11 of 31 trips undertaken by the actors to Dubai in 2024-25 involving smuggling of gold. The quantum of gold smuggled by the syndicate has been estimated to be to the tune of over 100 kg by the DRI in arguments in the high court.
