DRI imposes Rs 102 cr penalty on Kannada actress Ranya Rao in gold smuggling case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has imposed a fine of Rs 102 crore on Kannada film actress Ranya Rao in a gold smuggling case, the DRI sources said on Tuesday.
Along with her, the DRI imposed a penalty of Rs 63 crore on hotelier Tarun Kondaraju and Rs 56 crore each on jewellers Sahil Sakaria Jain and Bharat Kumar Jain.
On Tuesday, the DRI officials reached the Bengaluru Central Jail and served each of them a 250-page notice along with 2,500-page annexure.
"It was a herculean exercise to prepare a detailed notice along with supporting documents. Today we served 11,000 pages of documents to the accused," a DRI source told PTI.
According to sources in the DRI, the actress was caught with 14.8 kg gold on March 3 at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on her arrival from Dubai.
Rao is the step-daughter of Director General of Police rank officer K Ramachandra Rao.
The actress was sentenced to one year of imprisonment under the stringent Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA), in the gold smuggling case in July this year.
The COFEPOSA-related matter came up before the High Court on Tuesday, which posted it on September 11, DRI sources said.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
