How Sandalwood actor with gold walked into trap at airport

HARSHVARDINI RANYA alias Rao (33), a Sandalwood actor, stepdaughter of Director General of Police (Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation) Ramachandra Rao—a 1993-batch IPS officer — and a four-month-old wife of well-known Bengaluru-based architect Jaitn Hukkeri had literally everything going for her until her arrest at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on the night of March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under Customs Act, 1962 for smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹12.56 crore.

- BALA CHAUHAN @Bengaluru

Her arrest at the arrival hall after landing from Dubai on an Emirates flight was nothing short of a thriller. Escorted by constable (protocol) Basavaraj, when Ranya arrived at the arrival, she was intercepted and taken aside by DRI sleuths and later arrested when they found 14 gold bars, each weighing one kg, strapped on her thighs with tape and bandages.

What foxed the DRI sleuths was the modus operandi behind the cross-continent gold smuggling. How did she get past the stringent security checks at the Dubai International? If she was handed over the gold past the security, it indicates collusion of some insiders. Who are they and how big is their spread? Who then is the beneficiary of the contraband yellow metal here in Bengaluru? Is there a back channel official collusion at work? Is she a member of an international smuggling syndicate or is being used as a mule because of her default police 'cover'?