Actress Ranya Rao Fined ₹102 Crore in Gold Smuggling Case

• DRI fines actress Ranya Rao ₹102 crore in gold smuggling case.
• Hotelier Tarun Kondaraju, jewellers Sahil & Bharat Jain fined over ₹50 crore each.
• 11,000 pages of documents served to accused inside Bengaluru Central Jail.
• Rao caught with 14.8 kg gold at Bengaluru airport on March 3.
• She is the step-daughter of DGP-rank officer K Ramachandra Rao.

GG News Bureau
Bengaluru, 2nd Sept: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has slapped a penalty of ₹102 crore on Kannada actress Ranya Rao in connection with a high-profile gold smuggling case, officials said on Tuesday.

Along with her, the DRI imposed fines of ₹63 crore on hotelier Tarun Kondaraju and ₹56 crore each on jewellers Sahil Sakaria Jain and Bharat Kumar Jain.

Massive Documentation Served
On Tuesday, DRI officials reached Bengaluru Central Jail and served a detailed 250-page notice, along with a 2,500-page annexure, to each accused. “It was a herculean exercise to prepare such a detailed notice with supporting evidence. Today, we served 11,000 pages of documents in total,” a DRI source told PTI.

The Gold Smuggling Case
According to officials, Ranya Rao was caught with 14.8 kg of gold at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport on March 3 after arriving from Dubai. Notably, she is the step-daughter of senior police officer K Ramachandra Rao, holding the rank of Director General of Police.

In July, she was sentenced to one year of imprisonment under the stringent Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA).

Legal Proceedings Ahead
The COFEPOSA-related matter was listed before the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, which has now posted the case for September 11, DRI sources said.