The Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI) stated Tuesday it has arrested a fourth particular person in reference to the gold smuggling case involving Kannada movie actor Ranya Rao and Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru.
In accordance with DRI officers, Bharat Kumar Jain, a jewelry and hawala dealer, was arrested in late July, and despatched to 14 days of judicial custody. Bharat Kumar Jain is the uncle of Sahil Sakariya Jain, 27, a hawala vendor who’s the third accused within the Bengaluru gold smuggling case that unravelled in March this 12 months after the arrest of Ranya Rao, alias Harshavardhini Ranya, 33.
Bharat Kumar Jain was concerned within the distribution of the gold smuggled into India from Dubai by the 2 actors, and for hawala transfers of funds to facilitate the smuggling, DRI stated after it introduced him earlier than a choose for particular financial offences in Bengaluru.
Sahil Jain and Bharat Jain have allegedly been discovered to be a part of a complicated smuggling community working in India and overseas.
Gold smuggling case in Kolkata
Sources stated Bharat and Sahil had been named in criticism filed by DRI beneath the Customs Act in a Kolkata Justice of the Peace’s courtroom on March 5, 2022, in a case involving smuggling of 41.64 kg of gold the place they’re alleged to have organized couriers for the transport of enormous portions of gold from the West Bengal capital to different cities in India like Mumbai and Raipur.
Between 2019 and 2020, DRI obtained intelligence {that a} smuggling syndicate working from Kolkata, Mumbai, and Raipur was smuggling foreign-marked gold from Bangladesh by means of the Indo-Bangladesh borders of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
Based mostly on the intelligence, DRI carried out operations to get better the smuggled gold and intercepted individuals carrying smuggled gold in Kolkata, Raipur, and Mumbai, resulting in the restoration of 41.64 kg of gold.
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One of many gold carriers, who was discovered with 6.98 kg of gold in Mumbai in December 2019, reported that the supposed receiver of the gold was Sahil Jain, who was dwelling in Mumbai on the time. He was arrested by DRI and located to be a key participant in a significant smuggling racket.
Bengaluru gold smuggling case
DRI has alleged Ranya Rao smuggled 49.6 kg of gold valued at over Rs 40 crore from Dubai between November 2024 and February 2025. This was other than the 14.2 kg of gold price Rs 12.56 crore that was seized on March 3 by DRI on the Bengaluru airport.
Rao is alleged to have handed over the gold to Sahil Jain, who paid for the consignments by means of hawala transfers of funds to Dubai and India. Sahil was arrested on March 26 by DRI after he was recognized throughout investigations because the supposed recipient of 14.2 kg of gold smuggled from Dubai by Rao in affiliation with Konduru Raju.
Ranya Rao, Virat Konduru, and Sahil Jain had been ordered on April 22 by the Centre to be detained for a 12 months beneath the Conservation of Overseas Trade and Prevention of Smuggling Actions Act (COFEPOSA).
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The Cofeposa advisory board in Bengaluru not too long ago confirmed their April 22 Cofeposa detention order.