As part of the investigations into the starlet smuggling saga, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at many locations across Karnataka to unravel the possible involvement of others – people from the film world, politics, business and social circles of the arrested actress Ranya Rao.
The CBI, which has begun the investigations, has filed a case based on which the ED searches began, to find further evidence in the case and also to detect and identify any more people involved in the smuggling racket.
The investigations are also expected to unravel any international ramifications of the case. With help from the CBI and DRI, the ED hopes to crack open any international network that was active in the gold smuggling case, in which Kannada actress Ranya Rao was arrested on March 4 from Bangalore while she was walking out of the green channel with a huge cache of gold concealed on her person.
The gold was worth Rs 12 crore, and she is said to have made multiple trips to Dubai in the recent past. Incidentally, the probe by the central agencies will also cover security lapses or collusion of airport security personnel and customs officials, if there were any lapses that may have helped the smuggling operations.
Her residence was also raided after her arrest, leading to the seizure of Rs 2.67 crore in cash and gold worth Rs 2.06 crore. Her other assets have also been confiscated.
The investigations have revealed that Rao, who is the stepdaughter of a senior police officer, had made 30 trips to Dubai over the past one year and brought in gold without paying any duties. Her accomplice, a businessman, was also arrested after the analysis of her phone call records and other electronic devices seized from her.
The investigators are also combing the data from her devices to detect if any of the persons in her phone networks were involved in the case in any way.
Meanwhile, a special court reserved its judgement in a bail plea moved by Ranya Rao and the order is likely to be pronounced on Mach 14. On the other hand, the Karnataka government withdrew the CID probe it ordered into the smuggling racket and said that since Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta is already probing the possible role of K Ramachandra Rao, IPS, stepfather of the actress. Rao, currently the MD of Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation, had expressed shock over the activities of Ranya Rao and said that she lived separately since her marriage four months ago.
“If there is any violation of law on the part of Ranya, the law will take its course,” he said.
However, the BJP has been questioning as to why no action was taken against the police officer and has been alleging that two ministers of the Congress government were also involved in the case. An allegation dismissed by the Congress leaders, who says that investigations are under the control of Central agencies and that they were awaiting the reports of the investigations and only once they come can they make any comment.