As costs of 24-carat gold started rising from ₹ 75,000 per 10 grams in November 2024 to ₹ 89,000 in March 2025, the alleged gold smuggling exercise and hawala transactions of Kannada actress Ranya Rao, her affiliate and Telugu actor Tarun Konduru alias Virat Konduru, and hawala vendor Sahil Jain additionally peaked, a Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI) probe has discovered.
Rao, 33, who was arrested on March 3 on the Kempegowda Worldwide Airport in Bengaluru after she landed from Dubai with 14.2 kg of gold value ₹ 12.56 crore on her individual, allegedly transferred 49.6 kg of gold value ₹ 40.13 crore to Jain in 4 earlier journeys from Dubai, in accordance with the DRI probe.
The DRI’s findings within the gold smuggling probe are a part of courtroom filings made by the company on April 2 whereas looking for Jain’s judicial custody. Jain was arrested on March 26 and investigated in DRI custody until April 2.
The DRI probe has discovered that Rao allegedly handed over an growing amount of gold smuggled from Dubai, in affiliation with Konduru, to Jain from November 2024 to February 2025 earlier than her March 3 arrest.
Rao, who’s the stepdaughter of senior IPS officer Okay Ramachandra Rao, allegedly used police protocol providers out there on the Bengaluru airport to the officer to bypass bodily checks on the airport.
In line with the DRI findings outlined in courtroom filings, Jain obtained 8.98 kg of gold value ₹ 6.82 crore from Rao in November 2024, when the gold worth was within the vary of ₹ 76,000 per 10 grams in India.
In December 2024, Jain allegedly obtained 12.62 kg of gold value ₹ 9.94 crore from Rao when the value of gold was within the vary of ₹ 79,000 per 10 grams.
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In January 2025, Jain allegedly obtained 14.56 kg of gold valued at ₹ 11.55 crore from the actress when the worth of gold was within the vary of ₹ 80,000 per 10 grams, and in February, he allegedly obtained 13.43 kg of gold value ₹ 11.80 crore when the value of gold was within the vary of ₹ 88,000 per 10 grams in India.
When Rao was arrested on March 3, she was allegedly carrying 14.2 kg of gold when the value of gold was within the vary of ₹ 89,000 per 10 grams. The DRI has said that the smuggling of 14.2 kg of gold value ₹ 12.56 crore would have led to a customs obligation evasion of ₹ 4.83 crore, which might quantity to income for the smuggling racket.
In line with the DRI probe, Jain transferred ₹ 38.39 crore of the ₹ 40.13 crore earned by Rao by allegedly smuggling 49.6 kg of gold from November 2024 to February 2025 via the hawala path to Dubai, and round ₹ 1.73 crore to the actress in Bengaluru.
Jain has claimed that he allegedly obtained a fee of ₹ 55,000 for each consignment of smuggled gold that he helped eliminate for Rao in Bengaluru and for facilitating the switch of funds from the gross sales to Dubai.
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Jain was by the way arrested by the DRI in 2019 in Mumbai for receiving a 6.98 kg consignment of gold smuggled from Bangladesh by way of Kolkata by a gold smuggling syndicate. The DRI has discovered that an individual utilizing a Thailand cellphone quantity facilitated Rao’s acquaintance with Jain in November 2024.
The position of Telugu actor Tarun alias Virat Konduru
Dubai customs declaration paperwork discovered at actress Ranya Rao’s residence after her arrest allegedly point out that Telugu actor Tarun alias Virat Konduru, 36, who’s a US citizen, had claimed in Dubai that he was transporting gold to Geneva however moved it to India via Rao, the DRI argued on Thursday throughout a bail listening to for Konduru. The paperwork have been dated November 13, 2024, and December 20, 2024.
Konduru’s US passport was used to move the gold meant to be smuggled to India via Dubai customs checks, the DRI counsel argued.
“The arrest of A3 (the hawala vendor Sahil Jain) has offered a number of leads within the method of the disposal of the gold,” the DRI counsel stated. The counsel added that the company is wanting on the variety of occasions Rao and Konduru travelled to Dubai to grasp the extent of the gold smuggling concerned.
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The DRI counsel indicated that the actors travelled to Dubai 31 occasions since January 2024, with 25 journeys being single-day affairs the place they reached Dubai by a morning flight and returned by a night flight. The DRI additionally stated that there are indications that round 4 to six kg of gold was smuggled in two cases in early 2024 by the duo.
The DRI counsel argued that Konduru would accumulate the gold in Dubai – funds for which have been completed in money allegedly transferred via the hawala route by Rao – after which hand it over to the actress on the airport.
“From January 2024 to November 2024, it was A1 (Ranya Rao) who funded the acquisition of tickets by A2 (Konduru) to Dubai and Geneva (a camouflage to move the gold via Dubai customs). After November 2024, A1 deposited funds for A2 to purchase his tickets,” the DRI argued.
Konduru, who was arrested on March 9, travelled to Dubai similtaneously the actress to assist her smuggle the gold from Dubai to India however returned to Hyderabad as an alternative of Bengaluru, the DRI has said.
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There are “worldwide hyperlinks” to the operations which need to be unearthed, the DRI argued, looking for denial of bail to Konduru. Sources stated that home purchasers of the gold smuggled by the actors are additionally underneath the DRI scanner.
A classes courtroom in Bengaluru will pronounce its orders on Konduru’s bail plea on April 7. Earlier, on March 27, the courtroom had rejected Rao’s bail plea by citing the hawala dealings concerned within the gold smuggling racket.