Gold smuggling controversy: Ranya Rao faces 1 year in jail without bail as COFEPOSA gets invoked |

A new update has come in the Ranya Rao’s alleged gold smuggling case, who has been booked under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974. According to the reports, the Kannada actress can be kept in jail for a whole year without bail.
Mathrubhumi reported that authorities have said that in order to prevent the actress from indulging or conducting any further smuggling activities upon release, the Act was invoked. The reason behind this move has been cited as the non-cooperation of the actress with investigating agencies.

Ranya Rao at the Bengaluru Central Prison

On March 3, Ranya Rao was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport. 14.2 kg of gold bars worth ₹12.5 crore were found in her possession upon her arrival from Dubai. Another co-accused in the matter, Raju, was arrested on March 9.
As we speak, Ranya Rao, along with the other two accused Tarun Raju and Sahil Sakaria Jain, are in Bengaluru Central Prison.
So far in her defence, Rao’s lawyers have said that she has been “falsely implicated in the case.” They have made attempts for bail, which have been opposed by the senior advocate representing DRI. Citing the reports of the investigation, the opposing counsel told the court that 100 kgs of gold had been smuggled from India to Dubai by the actress and her friend Tarun Raju.
According to the reports, the statistics from the probe say that between January and March of this year, Rao and Raju jointly traveled to Dubai over 20 times. In addition to this, Rao reportedly made a total of 56 trips to Dubai from 2023 to 2025.
Further, alongside the probe by DRI, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have launched separate investigations to examine any potential involvement of government officials, including the stepfather of the Kannada actress, DGP Ramachandra Rao, in the smuggling activities.

Karnataka HC refuses bail

Meanwhile, though as aforementioned, reportedly the actress’s lawyers are trying to get her out, the Karnataka High Court on Saturday refused to grant bail to Ranya and co-accused Tarun.