Days after her third bail plea was rejected by a sessions court, Kannada actress and gold smuggling case accused, Ranya Rao moved the Karnataka High Court for bail.
The Karnataka HC is expected to hear the matter next week.
Ranya Rao's third bail plea was rejected by a court on March 27. The court cited the seriousness of the charges against her as the reason for the denial of bail.
On March 14, a Special Court for Economic Offences rejected her bail plea. Earlier, a Magistrate Court had denied her bail.
Ranya Rao is the stepdaughter of DGP rank officer K Ramachandra Rao.
The Karnataka government has appointed Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta to probe the role of Ramachandra Rao, if any, in the alleged gold smuggling activity of his step daughter.
Ramachandra Rao is presently serving as the Managing Director of the Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Ranya Rao was arrested at Bengaluru International Airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle 14.8 kg of gold worth over Rs 12 crore from Dubai, officials confirmed on March 3.
Later, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) revealed that Ranya Rao had previously smuggled around 14.56 kg of gold--resulting in a customs duty loss of Rs 4.45 crore to the exchequer-- with Sahil Sakariya Jain assisting her in selling it in India. Jain is the third accused in the case. Jain, was allegedly involved in selling smuggled gold in India and facilitating hawala transactions. He was involved in plans to dispose of the gold, which was seized from Ranya on March 3.
He is a crucial link in the smuggling syndicate, and investigations have uncovered that he helped Ranya twice, before he was arrested.