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Kannada actor Ranya Rao has been sentenced to one year in prison in connection with a gold smuggling case, following an order passed by the Advisory Board under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA). The order, issued on May 23, denies her the right to apply for bail during the entire duration of the one-year sentence. The same order applies to her co-accused, Tarun Kondaru Raju, a US citizen, and Sahil Jain. The order was made public recently.
Ranya Rao, also known as Harshavardhani Ranya, was arrested on March 3 at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport after officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) found her carrying 14.213 kg of 24-carat gold concealed in her luggage. The seized gold was valued at Rs 12.56 crore. Following her arrest, the DRI raided her residence, where they recovered Rs 2.67 crore in unaccounted cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore.
Ranya had travelled alone to Dubai 34 times between 2023 and 2025. According to investigators, she, along with Tarun Raju and Sahil Jain, operated a gold smuggling syndicate with suppliers based in Dubai, Uganda, and other locations. The group reportedly used hawala channels to handle payments, bypassing formal banking systems. False export declarations were filed in Dubai, listing Switzerland and the USA as the shipment destinations, while the gold was actually smuggled into India using couriers carrying dual sets of travel documents.
Ranya Rao had earlier sought bail multiple times but was denied. However, the court later granted her default bail, along with Tarun Raju, after the DRI failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated time. The bail conditions required both to furnish two sureties each, submit a bond of Rs 2 lakh, refrain from leaving the country, and avoid repeating any such offence. However, despite this default bail, Ranya remained in custody due to ongoing COFEPOSA proceedings.
COFEPOSA is a preventive detention law designed to combat smuggling and safeguard India’s foreign exchange reserves. Under this law, individuals can be detained without trial for up to one year if they are suspected of involvement in such activities.
The government issued a COFEPOSA preventive detention order against her on April 22, which allows for up to one year of detention based on suspicion in cases involving foreign exchange and smuggling offences. Ranya’s counsel has accused the DRI of document manipulation and argued that the offences are compoundable. Proceedings under Sections 135 (evasion of duty or prohibitions) and 104 (power to arrest) of the Customs Act have been initiated against her, and an inquiry under Section 108 (power to summon persons to give evidence and produce documents) is also ongoing.