Ranya Rao, who was arrested and accused of allegedly smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore, has made some explosive claims in a letter to the Additional Director General of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
In the letter dated March 6, she claimed she was physically assaulted, slapped 10-15 times, and repeatedly slapped on her face for refusing to sign the statements they had prepared.
Rao also claimed she is innocent, and said that she has been falsely implicated, and was hit by officers whom she can identify.
Rao also claimed that she was denied food and threatened. “One of the officers said that if you’re not signing the papers, we will expose your father’s name and identify him, even though we know he is nowhere involved," she claimed in the letter.
The actor claimed that she had signed 50-60 typed pages and around 40 pages of blank paper as she “was under immense pressure, stress, and subjected to physical assault; only by force by the DRI officers," she alleged in the letter.
Ranya Rao is the stepdaughter of serving Karnataka DGP K Ramachandra Rao.
The letter stated that she was arrested directly from the aircraft and not from the airport terminal, as claimed in the documents by the DRI.
She went on to state, “They apprehended me from inside the aircraft, and from the time of my apprehension till I was produced in court, substantially, I was hit and slapped on my face 10-15 times by the officers, whom I can identify."
Claiming that all the documents signed by her were under duress, she alleged that the DRI’s version of events was not how it took place.
“No Mahazar, as is being stated, was ever drawn, nor was my search conducted, nor was anything recovered from me. Some persons from Delhi who claimed to be officers clearly warned me to protect some other passengers and have falsely implicated me," she said in the letter.
This letter gains significance as it surfaces just a day after the special court in Bengaluru denied her bail request.
Recently, a picture of her went viral on social media, showing her swollen eyes, sparking speculations of assault in custody.
Reacting to the viral image, Karnataka State Commission for Women Chairperson Nagalakshmi Chaudhary had earlier said that the women’s panel could not take action until a formal complaint is filed in this regard.
“If she submits a written request to the commissioner or directly to me, we will reach out to the relevant authorities to assist her, support her, ensure a thorough investigation, and obtain a report. That is the extent of the commission’s role. However, since she has neither requested our intervention nor filed a complaint, I have no further comments," she said earlier.
“Whoever committed the assault should not have done so—there’s no doubt about that. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands. The investigation must proceed, and the legal process should unfold as it should. Assaulting anyone, whether a woman or anyone else, is completely unacceptable, and I strongly oppose it," Chaudhary added.
