Actress’s Bail Plea Rejected Twice by Court
Ranya Rao’s bail plea in this gold smuggling case has been rejected twice by the court before. Now, a case has been registered against her under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA). Under this law, the central or state government can detain an accused person for a maximum of one year. The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), a key agency under the Ministry of Finance, has invoked the COFEPOSA Act against the actress and other accused. Sources said that the central agencies took this step after repeated attempts by Ranya Rao and others in the case to obtain bail. Another accused, Tarun Raju, and Sahil Sakaria Jain also have cases registered against them under the COFEPOSA Act.
What is the Whole Case?
Ranya Rao, the stepdaughter of senior IPS officer Ramchandra Rao, was arrested on March 3rd on charges of smuggling 14.2 kilograms of gold. The gold was valued at over Rs12.56 crore. Ranya Rao and the other two accused in the case are currently lodged in Bengaluru Central Jail. The case is being investigated by the DRI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The state government has formed a special team headed by a senior IAS officer to investigate the role of DGP Ramchandra Rao. Sources said that the report has been submitted to the government.
The DRI’s investigation into the gold smuggling case revealed that the actress was involved in hawala transactions with Jain, the third accused in the case. The investigation found that with Jain’s help, Ranya Rao smuggled 49.6 kilograms of gold and transferred Rs38.4 crore in hawala funds to Dubai.
