BENGALURU: The Special Court for Economic Offences on March 14 dismissed the bail petition of 33-year-old actress Ranya Rao in the gold smuggling case.
She is in judicial custody following her arrest at the Kempegowda International Airport. She was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials for alleged involvement in gold smuggling.
The court, after arguments and counter-arguments on March 12, had reserved its order on Ranya's bail petition for March 14.
Ranya, who has been remanded in judicial custody till March 18, is presently lodged at the Bengaluru Central Prisons in Parappana Agrahara.
Her close associate, Tarun Konduru Raju, who was in the custody of DRI from March 10 has been remanded to a 14-day judicial custody.
Raju was produced before the same court on Friday. He was arrested by the DRI officials on Sunday. Raju's advocates have filed for bail on Friday and the court has asked the DRI to file objections to the bail petition.
Meanwhile, a team led by Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka who was appointed as the investigating officer to inquire into the circumstances, reasons behind the misuse of protocol and privileges by Ranya Rao and the role of her father DGP Dr K Ramachandra Rao in the case visited the Kempegowda International Airport on Friday and spoke to the protocol officers.
Gupta was assisted by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Vamsi Krishna from the CID. The team gathered information on the benefits obtained by Ranya Rao at the airport during her foreign visits. They also checked the type of luggage she was carrying and whether they were checked or she managed to bypass.
They also gathered information about the officers with whom Ranya was in touch at the airport. The team also went through the CCTV footage and checked if there were any misuse of boarding passes. Basavaraj Ibblur, the state protocol police officer, was also questioned to find out the number of times he helped Ranya Rao to use the protocol privileges.
The team also spoke to a few airport officers. Meanwhile Basavaraj has also been asked to go on compulsory leave till the completion of the probe.
It may be recalled that a team of officers attached to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Ranya's Lavelle Road residence and other locations on Thursday.
After a marathon search of almost 12 hours, the team left around 9 pm.
Officers attached to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also searched her premises on Monday. The CBI had registered an FIR against Ranya Rao on March 7 following a complaint from Dr Abhishek Chandra Gupta, the Additional Director of DRI- Hqrs.
It may be recalled that the DRI, acting on specific intelligence, intercepted Ranya, who had arrived from Dubai to Bengaluru via Emirates flight on March 3.
Upon examination, gold bars weighing 14.2 kg, valued at Rs 12.56 crores, were seized from her.
Following the interception, DRI officers searched her residential premises located at Lavelle Road, which resulted in the seizure of gold jewelry worth Rs. 2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to Rs. 2.67 crore.
Ranya was arrested under the relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
