The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence claimed to have found that, in January and February, Kannada actor Ranya Rao managed to sell 49.6 kg smuggled gold and transferred Rs 38.39 crore in hawala money to Dubai.
According to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), one of the accused in the gold smuggling case – a jeweller identified as Sahil Sakariya Jain – helped her dispose of the smuggled gold and also aided her with the hawala transactions to Dubai.
The DRI said these transactions took place in January and February. In its remand copy for Jain, the agency told the court that he had helped Ranya Rao dispose of 49.6 kg gold worth Rs 40.13 crore. He also confessed to assisting her in transferring Rs 38.39 crore in hawala money to Dubai as well as Rs 1.73 crore as hawala to her in Bengaluru, it added.
The DRI, in its remand copy, told the court that Jain “on being asked he informed that during January 2025, he has assisted and abetted A1 (accused 1 Ranya Rao) in disposing of the gold of weight 14,568 gm worth Rs 11,55,97,204.48 and also accepted that he has assisted and abetted A1 in transferring hawala money Rs 11,00,97,000 to Dubai and also accepted that he has assisted and abetted A1 in transferring hawala money of Rs 55,00,000 to A1 in Bengaluru".
The agency further said it managed to get Jain to reveal the transactions in February as well. He said he had received a commission of Rs 55,000 for each transaction.
The DRI said it suspects that the unaccounted cash worth Rs 2.67 crore, which was seized from Ranya’s residence on March 4, is likely hawala money received as profits from buying gold in Dubai and selling it in Bengaluru. The agency said it may further quiz Jain based on the evidence extracted from two mobile phones and laptop.
