The Centre has issued orders for detention of Kannada movie actor Ranya Rao alias Harshavardini Ranya, 34, Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru Raju, 36, and businessman Sahil Sakariya Jain, 26, below the Conservation of International Change and Prevention of Smuggling Actions (Cofeposa) Act, 1974.
The order for the detention of Ranya Rao and her associates below the Cofeposa Act was issued by the Central Financial Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Finance on April 22, on the request of the Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI).
The Cofeposa Act detention order successfully implies that Ranya Rao, Konduru, and Jain, who have been arrested in March for alleged gold smuggling actions, will stay in jail for as much as a 12 months, even when they’re granted bail by the courts for the Customs Act violation circumstances towards them.
Ranya Rao was intercepted by DRI on the Bengaluru Worldwide Airport on arrival from Dubai on March 3, 2025, with 14.2 kg of gold price Rs 12.56 crore hid on her particular person.
The DRI investigations after the arrest of the actress revealed that Ranya Rao was assisted in passing the gold via Dubai customs by Virat Konduru by utilizing his US citizen credentials, and that the smuggled gold was handed to hawala businessman Sahil Jain in India for disposal.
The DRI not too long ago informed the Karnataka Excessive Court docket that the three have been a part of a gold smuggling syndicate which had smuggled 100 kg of gold into India since 2024 – aside from the 14.2 kg of gold price that was seized on March 3 when Ranya Rao was intercepted.
In keeping with the April 22 order issued by a joint secretary of the Union Authorities for the detention of the actress below Cofeposa, Ranya Rao “will probably be detained and stored in Central Jail Parappana Agrahara, Bengaluru.” DRI sources mentioned that related orders have been issued for the detention of Tarun Konduru and Sahil Jain below the Cofeposa Act.
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In keeping with statements positioned within the courts by the DRI in reference to the investigations of the gold smuggling racket, hawala vendor Sahil Jain has a historical past of gold smuggling and is called in a DRI criticism in Kolkata for being a part of a syndicate that smuggled over 115 kg of gold from Bangladesh in 2019.
The Cofeposa Act permits the Authorities of India to position below preventive detention people who’re thought of to be a menace to international change conservation via their involvement in smuggling actions.
The regulation permits the detention of individuals who’re concerned in smuggling, abetting smuggling, transporting, concealing, or retaining smuggled items, or abetting the concealing of smuggled items, as much as a most interval of 1 12 months from the date of detention.
The Cofeposa Act will be invoked even when an individual is in judicial custody, as is the case with actress Ranya Rao and her associates. Rao, Konduru, and Jain have all filed bail pleas in courts, and the 2 arrested actors are awaiting the decision of the Karnataka Excessive Court docket of their bail pleas – that are anticipated to be taken up subsequent week, whereas Jain has approached a classes court docket.
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The DRI has reported in remand functions that the actress smuggled as a lot as 49.6 kg of gold valued at over Rs 40 crore from Dubai between November 2024 and February 2025 (aside from the 14.2 kg of gold that was seized on March 3). The actress is alleged to have handed over the contraband to Sahil Jain, who paid for the consignments via hawala transfers to Dubai and India.
The DRI has claimed to have discovered proof – via customs declarations and investigations of the accused – of as many as 11 of 31 journeys undertaken by the actors to Dubai in 2024-25 involving smuggling of gold. The quantum of gold smuggled by the syndicate has been estimated to be to the tune of over 100 kg by the DRI in arguments within the excessive court docket.
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