Investigations right into a gold smuggling racket involving Kannada actress Ranya Rao alias Harshavardhini Ranya, 33, have revealed potential hyperlinks between a hawala seller arrested within the case and a proclaimed offender in a significant gold smuggling case detected on the Delhi worldwide airport in 2013.
Sources indicated that hawala seller Sahil Sakariya Jain, 27, who’s accused of being the receiver of 49.6 kg of gold value over Rs 40 crore smuggled from Dubai by the actress from November 2024 to February 2025, is linked to a person who was arrested in 2013 on the Delhi airport for smuggling 36.56 kg of gold within the baggage of a UAE embassy official.
2013 gold smuggling case in Delhi
On March 11, 2013, a Delhi-based jewelry businessman Komal Jain, aged round 50, was detained on the Indira Gandhi Worldwide airport in Delhi on the idea of intelligence gathered by the DRI on his alleged involvement in gold smuggling utilizing an UAE embassy official as a courier.
The businessman, who arrived on a flight from Singapore, was discovered to be in possession of paperwork for the acquisition of over 30 kg of gold jewelry whereas checks carried out by DRI officers on the bags of a UAE embassy official who arrived on the identical flight revealed the presence of 36.56 kg of gold value Rs 9.79 crore on the time.
The subsequent day, DRI arrested Komal for smuggling gold whereas the UAE official, who loved diplomatic immunity from arrest, was despatched again to Dubai by the UAE authorities.
Subsequently, on June 11, 2013, Komal was detained beneath the Conservation of Overseas Alternate and Prevention of Smuggling Actions Act (COFEPOSA) on the idea of an order issued by the central authorities’s Division of Income.
Whereas Komal was held in preventive detention beneath COFEPOSA, a habeas corpus petition was moved within the Delhi Excessive Court docket for his launch by his son, who recognized himself as Sahil Jain.
Story continues under this advert
“Petitioner Sahil Jain has approached this Court docket for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for launch of his father Komal Jain, who has been ordered to be detained and saved in custody within the Central Jail, Tihar by an order dated 11.06.2013 issued beneath Part 3 (1) of the COFEPOSA Act by the Joint Secretary to the Govt of India,” the court docket famous in a November 13, 2013, order for the discharge of Komal Jain.
DRI sources mentioned that the Sahil Jain who filed the habeas corpus plea is perhaps the identical one who has now been detained beneath COFEPOSA for being the receiver of the gold smuggled from Dubai by Ranya Rao.
Within the data of the Bengaluru case involving Ranya Rao, the hawala seller Sahil Jain arrested on March 26, 2025, has been recognized because the son of 1 Mahendra Kumar Jain, a businessman from Bellary in Karnataka. Nevertheless, sources mentioned, “There’s the opportunity of a unique title getting used.”
Komal Jain goes lacking
By the way, the gold smuggling suspect Komal Jain disappeared following his launch from detention beneath COFEPOSA in November 2013. The DRI case and a cash laundering case filed in opposition to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are nonetheless pending with the Patiala Home Courts in Delhi.
Story continues under this advert
“NBWs issued in opposition to the accused (Komal Jain) had been obtained again unexecuted with report of Assistant Enforcement Officer that he visited the tackle of accused, the place Mr Sahil Jain, son of accused, met them and acknowledged that accused shouldn’t be staying there and has not visited the mentioned tackle for the final three/4 years and he doesn’t know the whereabouts of the accused,” a particular court docket for ED circumstances famous in its order on September 24, 2018.
The lacking Komal Jain was declared a proclaimed offender by a particular court docket for DRI circumstances in Delhi on January 27, 2020, and is but to seem in court docket for the pending trial within the case.
Komal Jain was additionally accused in a 2009 gold smuggling case by the customs authorities after he allegedly used the entrance of a gold jewelry enterprise at Noida SEZ to herald completed gold jewelry from large companies as an alternative of exporting it after importing impure gold.
A DRI search at a enterprise unit known as Vee Ess Jewellers Pvt Ltd, operated by Komal Jain in New Delhi in 2009, led to the seizure of 41.31 kg of gold jewelry value Rs 5.57 crore on the time. The DRI had accused Komal and others of a conspiracy to smuggle high-end gold jewelry into India from Dubai, Sharjah and Singapore within the guise of duty-free import of uncooked supplies to an SEZ unit for the manufacture of gold jewelry for exports. The 2009 case in opposition to Komal, nevertheless, didn’t maintain within the courts.
Story continues under this advert
Sahil Jain, a key operative in Bengaluru case
Within the present gold smuggling case in Bengaluru, the DRI has recognized Sahil Jain, 27 – who has gold smuggling circumstances registered in opposition to him in Mumbai and Kolkata throughout 2019-2022 – as a key operative in a bigger smuggling community. The company has acknowledged in court docket filings that Sahil is a part of a “extremely subtle gold smuggling community” which must be additional investigated.
Ranya Rao, co-accused Telugu actor Virat Konduru alias Tarun Konduru, and Sahil are beneath detention for a yr beneath COFEPOSA after the Union authorities issued an order on April 22 for his or her detention to forestall involvement in additional gold smuggling actions.
In response to DRI sources, Sahil’s father (Komal Jain/Mahendra Kumar Jain) is at present not being sought by the company within the Bengaluru gold smuggling case.
Advocate C V Siju, who has been showing for Sahil Jain within the present gold smuggling case in Bengaluru, mentioned DRI didn’t query Sahil’s father within the Bengaluru case.
Story continues under this advert
The Sahil Jain arrested in Bengaluru was additionally allegedly concerned in a significant gold smuggling racket working out of Kolkata in 2019-2020 and was named in a DRI prosecution criticism in Kolkata in 2022, the company has acknowledged in court docket.
Within the 2019-2020 interval, the DRI obtained intelligence {that a} smuggling syndicate working from Kolkata, Mumbai and Raipur was smuggling foreign-marked gold from Bangladesh by the Indo-Bangladesh borders of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Based mostly on the intelligence, the DRI carried out operations to get well the smuggled gold and intercepted individuals carrying smuggled gold in Kolkata, Raipur and Mumbai, resulting in the restoration of 41.64 kg of gold.
Initially, one of many gold carriers who was discovered with 6.98 kg of gold in Mumbai in December 2019 reported that the meant receiver of the gold was Sahil Jain, who was residing in Mumbai on the time. Jain was arrested by the DRI and located to be a key participant within the smuggling racket.
In Bengaluru, the DRI has acknowledged that Sahil Jain was the meant receiver of 14.2 kg of gold valued at Rs 12.56 crore that was discovered on the individual of Ranya on March 3 on the Bengaluru airport on her arrival from Dubai. The smuggling of the 14.2 kg of gold would have resulted in customs obligation evasion of Rs 4.83 crore, the DRI has acknowledged.
Story continues under this advert
Previous to Ranya’s arrest, the hawala seller Sahil Jain was concerned in receiving 49.6 kg of smuggled gold valued at Rs 40.13 crore from the actress following visits to Dubai between November 2024 to February 2025, the DRI has acknowledged.
The hawala seller has claimed that he solely obtained a fee of Rs 55,000 for each consignment of smuggled gold he obtained from the actress in Bengaluru and for facilitating the switch of funds from the gross sales to Dubai.