BENGALURU: Harshvardini Ranya alias Rao (33), a Sandalwood actor, stepdaughter of Director General of Police (Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation) Ramachandra Rao – a 1993-batch IPS officer – and a four-month-old wife of well-known Bengaluru-based architect Jaitn Hukkeri had literally everything going for her until her arrest at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on the night of March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under Customs Act, 1962 for smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore.
Her arrest at the arrival hall after landing from Dubai on an Emirates flight was nothing short of a thriller. Escorted by constable (protocol) Basavaraj, when Ranya arrived at the arrival, she was intercepted and taken aside by DRI sleuths and later arrested when they found 14 gold bars, each weighing one kg, strapped on her thighs with tape and bandages.
What foxed the DRI sleuths was the modus operandi behind the cross-continent gold smuggling. How did she get past the stringent security checks at the Dubai International? If she was handed over the gold past the security, it indicates collusion of some insiders.
Who are they and how big is their spread? Who then is the beneficiary of the contraband yellow metal here in Bengaluru? Is there a back channel official collusion at work? Is she a member of an international smuggling syndicate or is being used as a mule because of her default police ‘cover?’
Her frequent visits – 25 – in the last one year to Dubai and some other countries and four in the fortnight preceding her arrest – had drawn the attention of DRI and Customs authorities at KIA, who had started profiling her for her overseas visits which were of short duration; some of them not lasting beyond a couple of days.
People/agencies booking her tickets, venues, transport and the modes of payment were scrutinised and she was under the radar. Her confidence to escape intelligence scrutiny was further pepped up because of the illegit use of VIP channels to exit and enter the airport on her arrival on international flights with a protocol official there to receive her and ensure smooth passage without mandatory frisking and checks carried on regular passengers. She misused her stepfather’s position even though he distanced himself from his step daughter, pleaded ignorance about her activities and requested to be spared of a mudslinging.
On March 4, the day after her arrest, the DRI recovered gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in cash from her house – No 62, Nandwani Mansion in upscale Lavelle Road - during raids. The total seizure in the case amounted to Rs 17.29 crore, including assets worth `4.73 crore.
She was produced before the Economic Offences Court in Bengaluru on March 4 and has been remanded in judicial custody till March 18.
In her voluntary statement before the court, she confessed that 17 pieces of gold bars were recovered (by the DRI) from her possession between March 3 and 4. She said she visited Europe, America, Middle East, Dubai and Saudi Arabia in the recent past but refused to mention the actual number of overseas visits.
Born on September 14, 1991, in Chikkamagaluru, Ranya is the daughter of realtor KS Hegdesh. Her mother is the second wife of DGP Rao. Ranya has studied up to Class 12 and describes herself as an artist in the film industry/theatre, wild life photographer and “freelancer in real estate in Dubai.”
Her debut in Sandalwood was in 2014 with ‘Maanikya,’ in which she played the role of Manasa starring alongside Kiccha Sudeep and V Ravichandran. In 2016, she ventured into Tamil cinema with ‘Wagah,’ in which she starred opposite Vikram Prabhu as Khaanum/Kajal. Ranya returned to Kannada cinema in 2017 with ‘Pataki,’ as Sangeetha and shared the screen with Ganesh. Before her film debut, Ranya trained at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute in Mumbai and explored theatre.
In November 2024, Ranya tied the knot with Jatin Hukkeri, who she had met in August the same year. The two decided to marry on their first date, said people known to the couple.