Actress Ranya Rao booked under COFEPOSA Act, to stay in jail for one year with no bail
Kannada film actress Ranya Rao, an accused in the gold smuggling case, has been charged under the stringent Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974.
Under this Act, Ranya will not be eligible for bail for at least a year. According to authorities, the move was necessary to prevent her from resuming illicit activities, citing her lack of cooperation during the investigation.
The other two accused in the case—Tarun Raju and Sahil Sakaria Jain—have also been booked under the COFEPOSA Act.
The move came shortly after the Karnataka High Court dismissed the bail petition of Ranya and others.
Ranya was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on her arrival at Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru on March 3 after gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore were seized from her.
The agency, in a followup search, allegedly recovered gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore in cash from her residence.
Ranya is currently lodged at the Bengaluru central prison along with Raju and Jain.
According to investigators, Jain helped Rao dispose of 49.6 kilograms of smuggled gold, worth around Rs 40 crore, and facilitated the illegal transfer of approximately Rs 38.4 crore to Dubai through hawala channels.
Both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are conducting separate probe into the case.
Ranya, is the stepdaughter of senior police officer K. Ramchandra Rao who have been sent on compulsory leave by the government following the controversy.
India