Arrested Kannada actress Ranya Rao and her affiliate Tarun Konduru Raju had been cheated of ₹2 crore by a Ugandan gold agent who had assured them of a direct provide of the dear steel from Africa, earlier than they may purchase gold in Dubai and smuggle it to India, officers acquainted with the matter stated on Saturday, quoting from the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) cost sheet within the gold smuggling case.
Rao and Raju had sought assist from Kenyan officers on the fraud earlier than deciding in opposition to sourcing gold instantly from Africa, the officers added, requesting anonymity.
On March 3, 2025, Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI) officers had intercepted Ranya Rao, stepdaughter of senior IPS officer Ok Ramachandra Rao, at Kempegowda Worldwide Airport, Bengaluru on her arrival from Dubai allegedly with a consignment of 14.213 kg of gold, valued at ₹12.56 crore, hid on her physique. The Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR the identical month, whereas ED launched a parallel money-laundering probe within the case and hooked up property value ₹34.12 crore held within the title of Rao.
On February 25, ED submitted a prosecution grievance, equal to a cost sheet, beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) in opposition to Rao, Raju, and hawala supplier Sahil Sakariya Jain earlier than a Bengaluru courtroom.
The company alleged that the syndicate smuggled over 127 kg of gold valued at ₹102 crore between March 2024 and March 2025. The gold was later offered within the home market by way of a community of handlers and jewellers, it claimed.
An official quoting the cost sheet stated the probe revealed that Rao and Raju first tried the gold commerce by sourcing it “from suppliers in African nations comparable to Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, utilizing Dubai as a transit and buying and selling hub”. They opened an organization known as Vira Diamonds Buying and selling LLC in Dubai in 2023 to facilitate the import of treasured metals, with Raju as equal accomplice.
“They had been suggested that African mines had been the first supply of gold for Dubai’s markets in order that they tried to instantly procure it from Africa. They engaged a Uganda-based agent, Ben, agreeing to an preliminary 5 kg trial (to be adopted by a 50 kg contract) for which they signed a contract and paid roughly $25,000 upfront, adopted by two tranches of approx $10,000 every for purported taxes and costs,” the official stated.
When no gold was delivered, Raju travelled to Kampala on January 1, 2024 to fulfill the agent. “There, at a refinery, Raju was proven gold and requested for an extra cost of ₹1.70 crore to launch the consignment. Rao was coordinating from Dubai to rearrange money and hand it over to Ben’s affiliate in Dubai,” the official stated. “Raju ultimately found that it was a rip-off, leading to a loss exceeding ₹2 crore.”
ED has claimed within the cost sheet that WhatsApp chats recovered from the accused recommend that funds had been made to African suppliers, nevertheless it “doesn’t have materials proof to substantiate the alleged rip-off” with them, a second official stated. “In a single WhatsApp trade with contact ‘Ben EGR’ (Uganda), Ranya explicitly inquired in regards to the receipt of $110,000 and the return of $210,000, indicating that substantial sums had been superior for gold purchases,” the official added. The company claimed that Rao and Raju needed to abort an analogous enterprise in Kenya and that Raju had even sought assist from Kenyan officers relating to the fraud, officers stated.
After getting duped in Uganda and an analogous abortive enterprise in Kenya, Rao and Raju shifted their technique, a 3rd official stated. “Fairly than importing instantly from African mines, they started buying gold inside Dubai’s native market from African sellers primarily based within the Deira gold souk. By early 2024, they related with African gold sellers in Dubai who provided restricted portions at reductions, basically tapping into African-origin gold that had already reached Dubai. These Dubai-based suppliers insisted on money funds and refused financial institution transfers, as is frequent in illicit bullion trades. Rao, who managed the funds, accordingly organized massive money sums in Dubai’s forex (AED) to purchase gold from such sellers,” the official added.
After procuring gold in Dubai, Rao and Raju “developed a complicated technique to illicitly transport the gold into India whereas evading customs detection”, the official stated, quoting the cost sheet.
“Raju, a US passport holder, would pose as an exporter of gold out of Dubai to a 3rd nation (comparable to Switzerland or Thailand) by submitting false customs declarations with Dubai Customs. In actuality, these declarations had been to deceive the authorities — the gold was by no means meant to go away for the declared vacation spot however as an alternative was handed over to Rao at Dubai airport to be smuggled into India,” the third official stated.
Utilizing his US passport (which permits visa-free journey to many international locations), Raju bought airline tickets to locations like Geneva or Bangkok, with no intention to make use of past the Dubai examine level, in response to the ED cost sheet, as advised by the official. “These bookings, typically made by Rao utilizing her American Specific card, had been solely to fulfill Dubai Customs that the gold was being legally exported,” the official added.
ED has documented a complete 15 journeys of Rao from Dubai to India between March 2024 and March 2025 to smuggle 127.87 kg of gold. It has additionally elaborated within the cost sheet the misuse of airport protocol, meant for VIPs, by Rao.
“As soon as Ranya Rao and Tarun Raju landed in India, the conspiracy prolonged to evading Indian customs checks. Being the daughter of a senior Karnataka police official (an ADGP then), Rao leveraged her household connections to acquire protocol help at Bengaluru airport. A head constable posted on the airport, acted as Ranya’s escort on a number of events, serving to her bypass regular customs screening,” the second official stated, quoting from the ED cost sheet.
The company has maintained that the function of public servants is being additional investigated within the case, the officers stated.
