New Delhi/Bengaluru, 4 July

Assets worth more than Rs 34 crore of Kannada actor Ranya Rao have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a gold smuggling-linked money-laundering case, officials said on Friday.

A residential house in Victoria Layout and a residential plot in Arkavathi Layout in City, an industrial land in Tumkur and an agricultural land in Anekal taluk have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they added.

These assets have a combined fair market value of Rs 34.12 crore, the officials said.

The federal probe agency had filed a PMLA case, taking cognisance of a CBI and DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) complaint into a larger gold-smuggling racket in India, including the case of Rao.

Rao, whose original name is Harshavardini Ranya, was arrested on 3 March at the Kempegowda International Airport after she arrived from Dubai. Acting on a tip-off, DRI officials detained her and recovered 14.2 kg of gold bars valued at more than Rs 12.56 crore from her possession.