The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided multiple locations in Bengaluru and some other places in Karnataka to probe a larger conspiracy hatched for laundering money through gold smuggling racket in which actor Ranya Rao was recently arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
The actor, who was first cast was in 2014 in “Maanik,” a Kannada movie , is the stepdaughter of a senior IPS officer Ramachandra Rao, who currently serves as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.
The actor has claimed following her arrest that it was her maiden attempt at smuggling gold.
A case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was registered by the ED, taking cognisance of a recent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR and a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) case against actor Ranya Rao, the sources said.
The agency swung into action to look at larger conspiracy of gold smuggling through airports and subsequent generation of proceeds of crime by various vested interests, including influential persons, government officials and “politically exposed persons,” they pointed out.
On March 3, the DRI arrested Rao after seizing gold bars worth ₹12.56 crore from her at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, after she landed from Dubai.
Rao had prepared a meticulous plan to smuggle gold bars from Dubai and learnt how to conceal it in her clothing on YouTube, according to a document detailing the authorities’ objections to her bail request. The document also detailed how she was handed over the consignment that has landed her in trouble back home.
During the interrogation she said that she received gold bars in two packets from a man in white gown at the Dubai airport. Given that Rao was already prepared after taking lessons from YouTube, she went into a washroom and wrapped the 12 pieces of gold around her calf muscles and waist with tapes she had bought earlier, said sources.
A protocol officer, Basappa Billur, who was directed by stepfather Ramchandra Rao to escort her at the airport, was also arrested after actor Rao was way laid by the DRI sleuths before she could exit the airport at Bengaluru.
