Karnataka gold smuggling case: I-T dept to question Ranya Rao over source of funds

Bengaluru: In fresh trouble for gold smuggling suspect Ranya Rao, the Income Tax Department has begun probing her financial dealings. 

On June 9, the Special Court for Economic Offences allowed the I-T Department's application, permitting it to interrogate Ranya at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, where she is currently held, between June 11 and 13. 

The court dismissed the objections by Ranya’s counsel and allowed the I-T officials to question her between 10 am and 5.30 pm and directed it to be videographed. 

Although Ranya and co-suspect Tarun Kondur Raju have been granted bail, they remain in jail as they were booked under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, which provides for their detention for nearly a year without bail. 

On June 2, the Deputy Director (Investigations), I-T Department, Bengaluru, filed an application before the Special Court for Economic Offences in Bengaluru. The taxman jumped into the case to unearth the source of large funds that allegedly allowed Ranya to buy gold in Dubai and smuggle it into India. 

Ranya, 33, was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru when she arrived from Dubai on March 3. DRI officials alleged that she had concealed 14.2 kg of foreign-origin gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore on her person. They arrested Raju, her accomplice, and Sahil Sakariya Jain, a jeweller from Ballari, who allegedly helped her dispose of the smuggled gold. 

The DRI has alleged that Jain helped Ranya transfer Rs 11 crore and Rs 11.25 crore to Dubai through the Hawala route in January and February, respectively, this year. He also confessed to having helped Ranya get Rs 55 lakh and Rs 55.81 lakh in January and February, respectively, in Bengaluru through Hawala, the agency claimed. 

The DRI suspects that Jain helped Ranya dispose of 49 kg of gold worth Rs 40.13 crore. He has reportedly confessed to having helped her by sending Rs 38.3 crore to Dubai via Hawala and getting Rs 1.73 crore through the same channel. It also claimed that Jain received Rs 55,000 as commission for each transaction. 

Sources said that the I-T Department would examine all the monetary transactions made by Ranya and her accomplices to reveal the source of the funds. 

Last month, the ED raided educational institutions linked to Home Minister G Parameshwara in Tumakuru and Bengaluru. This followed ED investigation that "an educational trust diverted funds and made payments of Rs 40 lakh towards her credit card bills." The ED claimed that the payments were made "on the instructions of an influential individual."