50 kg gold deal, ₹2 cr payment: How Ranya Rao was duped by a Ugandan agent

Ranya Rao and her associate got in touch with a Uganda-based agent and the two agreed to an initial 5 kg trial, which was to be followed by a 50 kg contract.

Updated on: Mar 22, 2026, 15:29:20 IST

By Neeraj Chauhan

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Nearly two years before Ranya Rao was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at the Bengaluru airport for smuggling gold, the Kannada actor and her associate were cheated of ₹2 crore by a Ugandan gold agent, officials have revealed.

Kannada actress Ranya Rao was arrested from the Kempagowda International Airport.

In March 2025, Rao was arrested from the Bengaluru airport after she returned from Dubai allegedly with a consignment of 14-kg of gold worth ₹12.56 crore concealed on her body.

In a chargesheet filed last month, ED officials said Rao and her associates smuggled 127.28 kg of gold valued at ₹102.55 crore into India between March 2024 and March 2025. The gold was later sold in the domestic market through a network of handlers and jewellers.

Also Read: ED files charge sheet against Ranya Rao, 2 others; says 127 kg gold worth ₹102 crore smuggled to India

Officials have now revealed that Rao and her associate, Tarun Konduru Raju, tried sourcing gold from suppliers, based in African nations, including Uganda, before resorting to smuggling the prized metal from Dubai.

A 'Ugandan agent’ and ₹2 crore fraud

An official aware of the probe told HT that Rao and Raju tried to source gold from suppliers in African nations, including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

The duo also opened a company called Vira Diamonds Trading LLC in Dubai in 2023 to facilitate the transfer. Dubai was intended to be the transit and trading hub.

“They were advised that African mines were the primary source of gold for Dubai’s markets so they attempted to directly procure it from Africa," the official said, citing the chargesheet.

Rao and her associate got in touch with a Uganda-based agent, Ben, and the two sides agreed to an initial 5 kg trial, which was to be followed by a 50 kg contract.

The duo also paid ₹25,000 (around 23.5 lakh) upfront, followed by two separate payments of around $10,000 each ( ₹9.39 lakh). However, the Uganda-based agent didn't deliver any gold.

On January 1, 2024, Raju travelled to Uganda city Kampala to meet the agent. He was shown the gold and asked for an additional payment of ₹1.7 crore to release the consignment.

"Rao was coordinating from Dubai to arrange cash and hand it over to Ben’s associate in Dubai. Raju eventually discovered that it was a scam, resulting in a loss exceeding ₹2 crore," the official said.

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The ED) also claimed to have recovered the WhatsApp chats that showed the 'proof' of payments. However, there wasn't enough "material evidence to substantiate the alleged scam”, a second official said.

Three strategies to smuggle gold

After getting duped of ₹2 crore, Rao and Raju resorted to a similar venture in Kenya, but that too was aborted due to similar fraud, a third official said.

The two even sought help from Kenyan officials on the fraud, but there was no resolution, which is when they decided against sourcing gold directly from Africa, as per officials.

After aborting Uganda and Kenya operations, they resorted to purchasing gold directly withing Dubai’s local market from African dealers based in Dubai's largest gold market- the Deira gold souk.

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"By early 2024, they connected with African gold dealers in Dubai who offered limited quantities at discounts, essentially tapping into African-origin gold that had already reached Dubai. These Dubai-based suppliers insisted on cash payments and refused bank transfers, as is common in illicit bullion trades," the official said.

The probe against the two have found an "organised" and "structured" mechanism, involving the procurement of gold abroad, illegal import into India, cash-based disposal and subsequent laundering of proceeds through hawala and banking channels, was taking place.

The authorities have attached assets worth ₹34 crore during the investigation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Chauhan
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More

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