BENGALURU: The gold-smuggling racket allegedly involving Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who is the daughter of a senior IPS officer, has taken an interesting turn with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arresting her friend, who is from a prominent business family in the city.
The family of Tarun K Raju, a resident of Kumara Park, runs star hotels and provides internet services in the city. Raju was produced before a judge at the latter’s house in National Games Village in Koramangala on Sunday night and was remanded in DRI custody for four days.
Did bizman facilitate gold purchase?
Raju was with Ranya in Dubai and is suspected to have facilitated purchasing of gold before handing it over to her. He was taken into police custody, and more facts will emerge during his interrogation,” sources claimed.
“We will ascertain how the payments for gold bars were made – through hawala or bitcoins. We’ll check if there’s any link between gold smugglers and the mastermind of bitcoin scam, which involves children of several businessmen and politicians along with a hacker.”
Ranya was produced before the special court for economic offences on Monday by DRI sleuths, who had taken her for questioning this weekend. She has been remanded in judicial custody till March 24.
Govt orders probe into ‘misuse’ of protocol service at airport
Slammed by political detractors for turning a blind eye to the gold smuggling racket busted by Director of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths, home minister G Parameshwara Monday said the state govt will initiate a probe into the alleged misuse of police protocol services at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
The govt and police officers had remained oblivious to the fact that prime accused Sandalwood actor Ranya Rao, who is the daughter of director general of police Ramachandra Rao, was being escorted by a constable while walking out of KIA arrival building with 14.2kg of gold strapped to her body when she was intercepted by DRI last week.
Though the protocol staff had given a statement to DRI that there were instructions to pick up Ranya, no inquiry was ordered to ascertain their role or the official machinery.
War of words in assembly
The issue rocked the legislative assembly Monday with BJP MLA Sunil Kumar suspecting the involvement of mafia and hawala operators in the racket, which is emerging as the hub of gold smuggling activities in recent times.
“As per news reports, state police personnel had extended protocol services to the accused at the international airport. Besides, there are allegations about the involvement of two prominent ministers in this case. The govt should disclose details of those ministers and officials,” Sunil Kumar demanded during Zero Hour.
Responding to the issue, Parameshwara said: “The case is handled by DRI which is under control of the central govt. Even the management of the international airport is not with the state govt. We have also read in the media about CBI taking over the case. Neither CBI nor DRI has informed us (state govt) about progress of the investigation or case details. Hence, we do not have details about the case. But we are of the opinion that all this needs to be investigated thoroughly. Let CBI only disclose details about the state ministers alleged to have influenced this case.”
Sunil Kumar immediately sought answers for misuse of protocol service at the airport as the actor was received by state police personnel. “It appears as if the state government is trying to shield somebody,” Sunil Kumar alleged. BJP state president BY Vijayendra pointed out that Ranya had travelled abroad, particularly to Dubai and other countries, over 30 times in recent months and said: “Every time she returned to Bengaluru, she received full protocol arrangements. This indicates that she’s not an ordinary individual.”
Clarifying on the allegations, Parameshwara replied: “We will investigate all aspects that fall under the jurisdiction of the state govt.”
