Gold dealer from Ballari arrested for ‘aiding’ Ranya Rao dispose smuggled gold
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had made the third arrest on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) in the gold smuggling case pertaining to Kannada actor Ranya Rao.
Ranya Rao was arrested on March 3, allegedly after she was caught with 14.2 kgs of gold at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
On Wednesday (March 26, 2025), DRI arrested a gold dealer, Sahil Sakariya Jain, from Ballari, for allegedly “abetting Ranya Rao in disposing of smuggled gold”. Sources said he was called for questioning by the DRI in connection with the case and following his interrogation was arrested on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) morning. Later in the day, he was produced before the Special Court for Economic Offences and was remanded in police custody.
DRI has accused Sahil Jain of “assisting and abetting Ranya Rao in disposing the smuggled gold and sharing the sale proceeds, which is an offence under Customs Act, 1962”. DRI has further said that he has been found to have assisted Ranya Rao in selling the smuggled gold multiple times, evident from his statements.
DRI had earlier raided two jewellery stores in Bengaluru, even as the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had raided a gold loan company in the city, probing the disposal of smuggled gold by Ranya Rao. Even as she initially claimed to only be a mule forced to carry the consignment, agencies have been sceptical of the same. Ranya Rao and another accused in the case, her friend Tarun Raju, had in 2023 incorporated a firm, Vira Diamonds Trading LLC in Dubai, which had claimed that it was importing gold to Dubai from Geneva and Bangkok to sell it in Dubai. However, the duo was smuggling it to India, DRI has claimed in documents submitted to the courts till date.
While Ranya Rao has denied all allegations and claimed she has been framed in the case, Tarun Raju has claimed that he had exited from Vira Diamonds in December last year and applied for bail. The courts have rejected both their bail petitions, and they are presently lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in judicial custody. The Sessions Court is expected to pronounce judgment on Thursday on an appeal by Ranya Rao against the lower court’s rejection of her bail plea.
