Tapes bought, cut to size for strapping gold bars: Ranya Rao's blow-by-blow account in gold smuggling case

Ranya Rao told DRI officials that this was the first time she smuggled gold.

Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who is in the custody of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), revealed during interrogation that it was the first time she smuggled gold from Dubai. The actor also revealed that she got calls from unknown numbers and claimed that she learnt to hide gold from YouTube videos.

She told the DRI that she was handed over gold in two packets, wrapped in thick tarpaulin plastic type of material.

The actor made the revelations during questioning, and her statements to the DRI were accessed exclusively by CNN-News18.

Ranya Rao, stepdaughter of Karnataka DGP K Ramachandra Rao, was arrested from Bengaluru airport while attempting to smuggle 14.8 kg gold in the form of biscuits strapped to her body.

"I received a call from a foreign phone number on March 1. I had been receiving calls from unknown foreign numbers for the past two weeks. I was instructed to go to Gate A at Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport. I was told to collect the gold at Dubai Airport and deliver it in Bengaluru," she told the agency.

"This was the first time I smuggled gold from Dubai to Bengaluru. I have never brought or purchased gold from Dubai before," Rao told DRI officials.

Ranya went on to explain to the DRI that after receiving the said packets, she proceeded towards the washroom near the dining lounge. As she opened the packets received from the unknown person, she found 12 gold bars which were packed in three separate packs of four each (full bars), according to News18.

She then wrapped the gold bars around her calf muscle and waist using a tape, which she she had bought from a shop near the airport. During the interrogation, Ranya also told the DRI officials she had used scissors to cut the tapes to a certain size, and had kept it in her bag before-hand as she would not be able to carry scissors into the airport.

To cover the gold bars on her body, she used a tissue roll from the washroom of the airport. She also stated she had placed a few of the gold bars in her shoes below the sole and the remaining gold pieces in the pockets of her jeans.

Ranya, according to her statement to the DRI, also confessed that she had watched YouTube videos to understand how to wrap/conceal gold on to the body.

She has denied knowing the identity of who the caller or the instructor was. “I am not entirely sure who called me. The caller had an African-American accent,” she said.

“I was instructed to deliver the gold bars to an unknown person,” she replied, when asked who was supposed to receive the smuggled gold at Bengaluru. She said she was “told to go to the service road after the airport toll gate” and “was supposed to put the gold in an autorickshaw near the signal,” but wasn’t “given the autorickshaw’s number.”

“I was instructed to collect the gold from an unknown person and deliver it to another unknown person,” Rao told the DRI, when questioned about a smuggling racket, according to a report by India Today.

Gold bars worth Rs 12.56 crore were seized from Ranya Rao at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Later, the officials searched her residence and recovered gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Rs 2.67 crore.