The gold-smuggling racket involving Kannada actor Ranya Rao, arrested in the ₹102-crore smuggling case, spanned from Africa to Dubai to India, sources in the Enforcement Directorate said on Sunday.
Rao, the daughter of a senior Karnataka IPS officer, was arrested in March last year, moments after arriving at the Bengaluru airport from Dubai. Officials had seized 14.2kg gold worth over ₹12.56 crore taped to her body.
The ED in its chargesheet has named Tarun Konduru, the actor’s alleged associate, and a Bellari-based gold dealer. Sources said Rao and her associates smuggled 127.28kg of gold valued at ₹102.55 crore into India between March 2024 and March 2025. The smuggled gold was later sold in the domestic market through a network of handlers and jewellers.
“Investigation revealed that their smuggling operation was part of an organised international network that started from their attempts to source gold from Africa. Subsequently, they established Dubai-based Veera Diamonds Trading LLC in 2023 and attempted to source gold directly from suppliers in African nations, including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania,” said an ED official.
The majority of gold in Dubai’s market originates from African mines.
Initially, Rao and her associates were cheated out of ₹2 crore by a Ugandan agent who did not deliver the gold as promised. Later, the actress and Konduru started buying gold from African dealers in Deira Gold Souk, Dubai’s largest gold market.
“Rao carried large sums of cash to the market to procure the gold while Konduru used to file fraudulent customs declarations claiming that the gold was being shipped from Dubai to a third country, such as Switzerland or Thailand,” the official said.
After procuring the gold, Rao would take the consignment to Dubai airport, conceal it on her person and smuggle it into India. Between March 2024 and March 2025, Rao travelled from Dubai to India approximately 15 times and carried 127.87kg of gold worth around ₹102 crore. The smuggled gold was sold to jewellers and handlers in India.
When Rao was arrested in March last year, she was carrying 14.2kg of gold. The officials tracking her movement grew suspicious as it was her fourth Dubai trip in 15 days and confronted her, leading to the seizure.
“At Bengaluru airport, she flaunted her connection, saying she is the daughter of a senior IPS officer and bypassed mandatory customs checks,” the official said.
The ED has attached assets worth over ₹34 crore belonging to Rao. The ED’s probe has revealed that gold smuggling was part of an organised racket involving the procurement of gold abroad, its illegal import into India and laundering of proceeds through hawala and banking channels.