Online crime tutorial? Ranya Rao reveals she took notes on smuggling gold from YouTube: Report

Actor Ranya Rao, arrested in a gold smuggling case, has confessed during interrogation that it was the first time she had smuggled gold from Dubai. The Kannada actor also revealed that she received calls from unknown numbers and that she learnt how to hide gold from YouTube videos.

"This was the first time I smuggled gold from Dubai to Bengaluru. I have never brought or purchased gold from Dubai before," Ranya Rao said in a U-turn to her previous statements to DRI officials, according to a report by India Today.

Ranya Rao also revealed during interrogation that she bought crepe bandages and scissors at the airport and attached the gold bars to her body in a restroom.

Online crime tutorial?

“The gold was in two plastic-covered packets. I attached the gold bars to my body in the airport restroom. I hid the gold in my jeans and shoes. I learnt how to do this from YouTube videos,” Ranya Rao told the intelligence officers, according to India Today.

Ranya Rao is the stepdaughter of Karnataka DGP K Ramachandra Rao. Authorities have accused the Sandalwood actor of using her stepfather's position to gain unauthorised access to VIP airport privileges and bypass security checks.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had informed a Karnataka court that Ranya was part of a smuggling syndicate.

Ranya Rao gold smuggling case

Gold bars worth ₹12.56 crore were seized from Harshvardhini Ranya, alias Ranya Rao, at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru earlier this month. A subsequent search of her home in Bengaluru's Lavelle Road yielded gold jewellery worth ₹2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to ₹2.67 crore.

Ranya Rao came under the DRI's lens due to her frequent foreign trips. Within six months, she had made 27 trips to Dubai and the United States. Ranya Rao had travelled from Dubai to India twice before her arrest – first on January 22 and then again on February 10.

On March 12, the DRI, investigating the case apart from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said that money was arranged and transferred through hawala and they are investigating that channel.

“It is necessary to arrest Ranya to prevent her from committing any further offence as she appears to be part of a larger syndicate with considerable resources and a sophisticated network,” read the memo submitted to a special court in Bengaluru on Monday, March 10.