Arrested Kannada actress Ranya Rao’s stepfather DGP Ramachandra Rao sent on compulsory leave

BENGALURU: Kannada actress Ranya Rao’s stepfather, DGP Ramachandra Rao, has been sent on compulsory leave. The actress was arrested in a gold smuggling case last week.

“Sri. K V Sharath Chandra, IPS (KN-1997) Additional Director General of Police, Recruitment, is placed in Concurrent Charge of the post of Chairman & Managing Director, Karnataka State Police Housing & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, Bengaluru with immediate effect and until further orders, Dr. K. Ramachandra Rao, IPS sent on compulsory leave”, said a Karnataka Government order issued on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ranya Rao approached a Sessions Court in Bengaluru for bail. Her move came after the Special Court for Economic Offences here denied her bail on Friday. While denying the bail to Ranya Rao, the Special Court for Economic Offences said that the charges against the actress were serious.

She was arrested on March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIAD) in Bengaluru for allegedly smuggling 14.8 kilograms of gold from Dubai. The CBI has filed an FIR in the gold smuggling case on the complaint of Abhishek Chandra Gupta, Additional Director of DRI.

The FIR has been registered under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) on the complaint of Abhishek Chandra Gupta. The complaint discloses the cognizable offences U/s 7 and 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 20148) r/w 61(2) of BNS.

According to the complaint, after Ranya Rao’s arrest on March 3, two foreign nationals were also arrested on March 6 from Mumbai airport for attempting to smuggle 21.28 kg of gold into India worth Rs. 18.92 crore, as per the complaint.

Abhishek Chandra Gupta, Additional Director of DRI, in his complaint, has said that these cases involving passengers making trips from Dubai and attempting to smuggle gold in large quantities point to a “possible nexus” with a coordinated smuggling syndicate, possibly operating from Dubai (UAE).

In Ranya Rao’s case, she travelled to Dubai multiple times while the two arrested foreign nationals have previously in arrived Mumbai airport multiple times. Gupta, in his complaint, has also suspected the possibility of the involvement of public servants and others.

“The above two cases detected in quick succession involving passengers making trips from Dubai, the attempted smuggling of large quantities of gold into India and the high frequency of these visits involving Indian and foreign nationals, points to a possible nexus with coordinated smuggling syndicate, possibly operating from Dubai (UAE). This may have larger national and international ramifications. The possibility of involvement of unknown public servants of the Government of India and unknown others, with such coordinated network, needs to be investigated”, the complaint said. (ANI)