The Karnataka Excessive Court docket has stayed a provisional attachment discover issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for properties belonging to Kannada actress Harshavardhini Ranya alias Ranya Rao, 33, in reference to a cash laundering case linked to alleged gold smuggling actions.
A single-judge bench of the excessive court docket stayed the attachment discover of the ED on September 10 within the wake of a plea filed by Ranya Rao on August 4 over the ED discover dated July 4.
“Realized Senior Counsel, referring to the order of provisional attachment, has demonstrated at this stage that the predicate offence is of the 12 months 2025 and, due to this fact, the properties acquired by the petitioner previous to the trial of the scheduled offences can not type the subject material of such attachment,” Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum mentioned in an interim order.
“Reliance is positioned on the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court docket in Pavana Dibbur v. Directorate of Enforcement [2023 INFC 1029]. The apex court docket has categorically held that properties acquired previous to the fee of the scheduled offence can’t be included in a provisional attachment,” the court docket dominated.
“Prima facie, this Court docket finds that the impugned attachment, insofar because it covers properties acquired earlier than the fee of the alleged predicate offence, is with out jurisdiction. The matter, due to this fact, requires consideration within the gentle of the regulation laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court docket in Pavana Dibbur. Accordingly, the provisional attachment order dated 04.07.2025, issued by the respondent Directorate of Enforcement towards the petitioner, is stayed till the following date of listening to,” the excessive court docket mentioned.
After the issuance of the ED attachment order, the Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI) additionally slapped a penalty discover to the extent of Rs 102 crore on the actress on September 2 beneath the Customs Act for allegedly being concerned in gold smuggling actions.
The DRI, which arrested the actress in March 2025 on the Bengaluru Worldwide Airport, has served a discover for fee of penalty to the tune of Rs 102 crore to Ranya Rao as the associated fee for smuggling an equal quantity of gold into India from Dubai within the 2024-2025 interval.
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The actress was intercepted by the DRI on March 3 this 12 months when she arrived on the Bengaluru Worldwide Airport from Dubai with a consignment of 14.2 kg of gold valued at Rs 12.56 crore strapped on her particular person – which she didn’t declare to customs authorities.
The investigations of the gold smuggling case involving the actress, who’s the stepdaughter of a senior Karnataka police officer, revealed that she had gone 31 instances to Dubai since 2024 and smuggled practically 127 kg of gold valued at over Rs 100 crore, DRI sources mentioned.
The arrest of Ranya Rao additionally led to the arrest of her Telugu actor good friend Tarun Konduru alias Virat Konduru, 36, and two hawala sellers cum jewellers Sahil Jain, 27, and his uncle Bharat Jain, 45. On September 2, the DRI additionally issued notices for penalties amounting to Rs 56 crore every on Konduru, Sahil Jain and Bharat Jain.
The penalty quantity is equal to the worth of the gold discovered to have been smuggled by the accused in the midst of investigations, DRI sources mentioned. The penalty discover issued forward of the prosecution of the smuggling case includes a provisional attachment of properties as per the Customs Act, a DRI official mentioned.
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On April 22, 2025, the Authorities of India issued orders for detention of Ranya Rao, Konduru and Sahil Jain for a 12 months beneath the Conservation of International Change and Prevention of Smuggling Actions (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974.
Writ petitions filed by relations of Ranya Rao and her associates for launch from the COFEPOSA detention are pending within the Karnataka Excessive Court docket.
Three weeks in the past, the DRI questioned senior Karnataka IPS officer Okay Ramachandra Rao, who’s the stepfather of Ranya Rao, relating to his information of the gold smuggling racket by which the actress was arrested.
Ramachandra Rao, who was despatched on obligatory go away in March this 12 months by the Karnataka authorities following the arrest of his stepdaughter, was reinstated by the federal government on August 11 and appointed because the Director Common of Police on the Directorate for Civil Rights Enforcement.
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The officer was questioned relating to his stepdaughter’s use of an official automotive that was supplied to him when she returned from Dubai following alleged smuggling journeys.