Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 13 (ANI): BJP MLA Bharath Shetty on Thursday criticised the Karnataka government's decision to withdraw the CID probe into the Ranya Rao gold smuggling case. He questioned the move, calling it suspicious and suggesting that the government might be trying to protect its officials from being named in the inquiry.

Speaking to ANI, BJP MLA Dr Bharath Shetty Y said, 'Everything looks fishy here... It looks like the CID officials have informed the state government that they won't be able to help the government because a few of the government officials' names might come up in the inquiry. Whereas, when it came to the MUDA case, though an ED inquiry was going on, Siddaramaiah went ahead with the Lokayukta inquiry to free himself from the corruption allegations. They are trying to protect somebody very big here...'

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) asked the CBI to probe the Ranya Rao gold smuggling case.

Legal advisor to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, AS Ponnanna, said, 'CBI's jurisdiction in Karnataka is virtually non-existent unless the government permits... Therefore, in order to get jurisdiction to probe an issue, they have shown it as a multi-state and, secondly, the involvement of officials of the Central government under the Central law. Therefore, they have come to investigate; let them investigate. CBI can investigate all aspects...'

Notably, actress Ranya Rao was arrested on March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIAD) in Bengaluru for allegedly smuggling 14.8 kilograms of gold from Dubai.

Ranya, the stepdaughter of DGP K. Ramachandra Rao, was produced before a special court judge on the evening of March 4 for financial offences. Prior to her transfer to custody, she underwent a medical examination at Bowring Hospital in Bengaluru. During her questioning,

Rao claimed that her trip to Dubai was for business purposes. However, authorities suspect that her visit was linked to the illegal importation of gold. Then, she was remanded to the custody of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) until March 10, which was extended till March 24. (ANI)