14 kg gold haul, 4 Dubai trips: How actor Ranya Rao was caught

Ranya Rao, who is reportedly stepdaughter of a DGP, was caught carrying 14.8 kg gold and remanded to 14 days judicial custody.

Updated on: Mar 5, 2025, 15:42:09 IST

By HT News Desk

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Kannada actor Ranya Rao was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport of Bengaluru on Monday night on charges of smuggling gold after she was allegedly caught carrying 14.8 kilograms of gold from Dubai to India.

Ranya Rao made her acting debut in 2014 with the Kannada movie Maanikya, directed by and starring Sudeep. (Facebook/Ranya Rao)

Ranya Rao, who is the stepdaughter of Director General of Police (Police Housing Corporation) Ramachandra Rao, was arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials, said an news agency ANI report.

Also read: Who is Ranya Rao? The actress caught for smuggling 14.8 kg gold at Bengaluru airport

She was presented before an economic offences court the next day and was remanded to 14 days in judicial custody.

How did the officials arrest Ranya Rao?

Ranya Rao was travelling from Dubai to Bengaluru on an Emirates flight when she was arrested. She was under the radar due to the frequency of her travel to Dubai.

According to a news agency PTI report, the authorities swung into action after noticing that Ranya Rao had travelled to Dubai four times in 15 days, which added to their suspicion. They hence launched a targeted operation to arrest her.

The ANI report, however, says that the DRI team was tipped off about Ranya Rao's alleged involvement in gold smuggling operations and thus, they stationed themselves at the airport hours before her arrival to arrest her. She was arrested after her flight landed around 7 pm.

According to initial investigation, Ranya Rao wore a significant portion of the gold and hid gold bars in her clothing to smuggle it, said the PTI report quoting investigators. She also may have used her connections to bypass customs checks before her arrest, initial probe reveals.

As much as 14.8 kg gold was allegedly found in Ranya Rao's possession, the officials said, which they allege was being smuggled to India illegally. However, upon questioning, Rao said that she was travelling to Dubai for business purposes, said the ANI report.

Ranya Rao made her acting debut in 2014 with the Kannada movie Maanikya, directed by and starring Sudeep. Later, she expanded her career beyond Kannada cinema and made her Tamil debut in 2016 with Wagah, where she starred opposite Vikram Prabhu.

With PTI, ANI inputs

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