Bengaluru: The Union govt has invoked the stringent anti-smuggling law — Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (Cofeposa) Act, 1974 — against actor Ranya Rao, daughter of senior IPS officer Ramchandra Rao, in alleged gold-smuggling case. The Act, invoked by the Union finance ministry, provides for one-year preventive detention.
Rao, currently remanded in judicial custody and lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison, approached Karnataka high court seeking bail. Her bail petitions had been turned down by the special court for economic offences and the sessions court earlier.
P Prasanna Kumar, special public prosecutor for NIA and CBI, confirmed there is no provision for granting bail under Cofeposa. “The Act is brought against persons who are clandestinely involved in smuggling activities which are of serious magnitude and are organised in nature. The preventive detention under Cofeposa is invoked for effective prevention of smuggling activities which would adversely affect the national economy and thereby cause a serious effect on the security of the country,” Kumar said.
He said Ranya will continue to remain in the existing judicial custody of Bengaluru Central Prison until the advisory board considers the case. If the advisory board upholds the order of preventive detention under Cofeposa, the detainee would remain in custody for a maximum period of one year.
“A detainee can be confined up to one year without any trial in the court of law as there is no option for applying bail under Cofeposa. The only remedy available to the detainee is to give representations to the detaining authority, the government and the advisory board. Only they have the power to consider such representation and release him/her. However, the detainee or family members can challenge the order of detention in high court or Supreme Court,” said Aruna Shyam M, Senior advocate and former additional advocate general, Karnataka.
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