A day after arrest, actress Ranya Rao’s flat raided, cash and gold worth crores seized

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, March 5, 2025: A day after Kannada actress Ranya Rao was arrested at Bengaluru International Airport for allegedly smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹12.56 crore, officials raided her residence and seized jewellery worth ₹2.06 crore along with ₹2.67 crore in cash, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Wednesday.

Rao, 33, who is the stepdaughter of a senior Karnataka IPS officer of Director General of Police (DGP) rank, was intercepted at the airport on March 3 while returning from Dubai. Based on intelligence inputs, DRI officers stopped her after she landed in Bengaluru on an Emirates flight. Upon examination, they discovered gold bars weighing 14.2 kg ingeniously concealed on her body.

Following her arrest, she was produced before a special court for economic offences and remanded to DRI custody until March 18.

Home raid

Later, officials searched her residence on Lavelle Road, where she lives with her husband, and recovered additional valuables, ANI reported.

“The search resulted in the seizure of gold jewellery worth ₹2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to ₹2.67 crore,” the DRI said in its statement according to ANI.

With the total seizure in the case reaching ₹17.29 crore, officials described the operation as a major crackdown on gold smuggling networks.

Rao has been arrested under the Customs Act, 1962, and investigations are ongoing to uncover possible links to a larger smuggling syndicate.

Hailing from Chikmagalur, Karnataka, Ranya, pursued engineering at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering in Bengaluru before venturing into the film industry.

Ranya made her film debut in 2014 with the Kannada movie Maanikya, directed by and starring Sudeep.