BENGALURU: Investigation into the case involving actress Ranya Rao, who was caught by DRI officials in the gold smuggling case, is throwing up new information every day. Now, it has been found that Ranya received continuous calls from unknown numbers from Dubai, Malaysia and European countries three weeks before her arrest.
DRI officials are investigating further, and Ranya has stated during the investigation that she has been trapped.
The officials are now investigating who made repeated phone calls to Ranya. They have collected her call detail records (CDR) and are looking into the reasons for the calls and what role the callers played in the gold smuggling case. They are also investigating the internet calls Ranya mentioned to determine if the unknown individuals are genuine.
Apart from this, Ranya Rao, who did not travel abroad in 2022, made 52 trips to Dubai in 2023. Of the total 52 trips to Dubai, 45 trips were single-day visits. Ranya, who used to board a Dubai flight at least three times a month, had flown to Dubai 11 times in the last five months.
Details of Ranya’s travel from November to March have been obtained by Public TV. The dates of Ranya’s Dubai trips— November 13, 2024, December 12, 2024, December 20, 2024, December 27, 2024, January 7, 2025, January 11, 2025, January 16, 2025, February 10, 2025, February 12, 2025, February 18, 2025 and March 3, 2025.
Ranya admitted to the DRI that a 6-foot-tall man handed her two boxes containing gold. She claimed she bought a baggage tag and a knife at the airport to conceal the gold. Ranya also stated that she learned how to smuggle gold by watching YouTube videos. “I had never smuggled gold before. It was my first time smuggling”, she reportedly told the officials.
She bought crepe bandage and scissors at the airport to hide the gold. Then she went to the washroom and wrapped the gold bars to her body using the bandage.
She was instructed to come to the Bengaluru Airport Toll and to put the gold in an autorickshaw parked on the service road. She doesn’t know about the person who was directing her. Judging by the language, the person might be African-American. She denied any previous involvement in gold smuggling, claiming this was her first time, sources said.
Ranya was caught two weeks after her previous Dubai trip, during which she argued with Customs officials, claiming she was the daughter of a DIG and refusing to undergo a security check. Each time, she was escorted out by police head constable Basavaraj from the airport police station. After this incident, DRI officials, who were monitoring Ranya, kept a close eye on her foreign travels. They were waiting for her return when she made another trip to Dubai when they finally nabbed her.
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