Gold smuggling: ED chargesheet against Kannada actor Ranya Rao, 2 others | India News
2 min readNew DelhiFeb 25, 2026 07:36 PM IST
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has submitted a prosecution complaint under the PMLA against Kannada actress Ranya Rao, stepdaughter of senior Karnataka police officer K Ramachandra Rao, Telugu actor Tarun Konduru, and hawala dealer Sahil Sakariya Jain before a special court in Bengaluru in an alleged gold smuggling and money laundering case.
An agency spokesperson said on Wednesday that the accused have been charged with the offence of money laundering under Section 3, punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, 2002.
On March 3 last year, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had intercepted Ranya at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru on her arrival from Dubai allegedly with a consignment of 14.213 kg of gold (valued at Rs 12.56 crore), which was strapped on her body using bandages.
An FIR was registered by the CBI in March 2025, based on a complaint from the DRI. Subsequent searches led to the recovery of gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to Rs 2.67 crore.
In May 2025, the ED had conducted searches at 16 locations across Karnataka and seized incriminating documents, digital devices, Indian and foreign currency. “Immovable properties worth Rs 34.12 crore, held in the name of Ranya, were provisionally attached in July 2025 under Section 5(1) of the PMLA. Probe has revealed an organised and structured mechanism for procuring gold abroad, illegally importing it into India, selling it for cash in local markets, and subsequently laundering the proceeds through both hawala and banking channels,” the spokesperson said.
“The ED’s probe has uncovered that between March 2024 and March 2025, the accused allegedly smuggled 127.287 kg of gold valued at around Rs 102.55 crore into India. The smuggled gold was later sold in the domestic market through a network of handlers and jewellers,” a ED spokesperson said in its statement.
“The proceeds of crime were allegedly generated in cash and moved through hawala networks in India and abroad, before being layered and routed through multiple bank accounts and entities to make them appear as legitimate business transactions,” the spokesperson alleged.