Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 10: Kannada actress Ranya Rao was sent to judicial custody until March 24 by the Economic Offences Court in Bengaluru on Monday, in connection with a gold smuggling case.
Ranya Rao was produced before the bench of Vishwanath C Gowdar at the special court for economic offences after spending three days in the custody of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The court had previously instructed the DRI to present her by 4 pm, after her medical examination was completed.
During the court proceedings, Ranya Rao requested two minutes to interact with her advocates, which the court allowed. She also made allegations of verbal harassment during her three-day interrogation by DRI officials. In response, the DRI denied the accusations, stating that they had only asked relevant questions and claimed to have video evidence from the CCTV cameras, with her advocate present during the interrogation.
Ranya Rao, who is the stepdaughter of DGP K Ramachandra Rao, was arrested on March 3 at Kempegowda International Airport (KIAD) in Bengaluru for allegedly smuggling 14.8 kilograms of gold from Dubai. Her arrest followed a tip-off regarding her involvement in gold smuggling, leading DRI officials to station a team at the airport to intercept her as soon as she arrived.
Following her arrest, Ranya was presented before a special court judge on the evening of March 4 for financial offences, and was initially remanded to judicial custody until March 18.