BENGALURU: Noting that actress Ranya Rao’s entry to Green Channel at Terminal 2 of KIA itself discloses her intention not to make any declaration at the airport and her criminal intention to evade payment of duty and penalty, the Special Court for Economic Offences said that her UAE Resident Identity Card and travel history (to Dubai, 27 times) since January 2025 do not favour it to extend discretionary relief of granting bail to her.
Stating that this court without any hesitation holds that Ranya is not entitled to discretionary relief by way of bail, Judge Vishwanath C Gowdar said the remand applications placed by the DRI disclosed the conspiracy hatched by Ranya, accused No. 1, along with the state police protocol officer, and the DRI’s contention of hawala transaction and international links in the case indicate that she is capable of manipulating and tampering with the evidence and witnesses, thereby hampering the trial.
The DRI contended that its probe unearthed the sophisticated methodology used in gold smuggling, use of the state police protocol officer to bypass security, hawala route to transfer funds from India to Dubai to buy gold and the involvement of a larger syndicate.
The court noted that the allegations against Ranya are serious. It stated that the apprehension of DRI that the accused will throttle the witnesses and escape from the process of court cannot be ruled out at this juncture.
Prima facie, the allegations against her are very much forthcoming and the concealment of gold while travelling is very much transpiring her intention, the evasion calculated at the preliminary stage of investigation amounted to Rs 4.83 crore, which is very much greater than the threshold of Rs 50 lakh prescribed under Section 104(6)(a) of the Customs Act, the court said.
Stating that the probe is yet to be concluded and it is an offence that affects the countr’s financial health and poses a threat to genuine gold traders, the court said Ranya not extending her cooperation during investigation is also a factor, which inclines the court to hold that at this stage, there are no valid and tenable grounds to enlarge her on bail.
The court said the grounds set out by Ranya in the bail application and during the course of arguments are subject matter of trial as the alleged offence has serious ramifications on the country’s economy.