The Kannada actress Ranya Rao gold smuggling case is slowly but surely assuming the proportions of a full-blown political war between the opposition BJP and the ruling Congress regime in the state, with accusations and counter-accusations heating up the political temperature.

The DRI, which has taken up investigations in the Ramya Rao gold smuggling case after she was caught red-handed with gold bars strapped onto her body at the Bangalore Airport a few days ago, is said to have confiscated her laptop and phones and has begun analysing that digital data that is contained in her devices.

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Already, information has come out that Ranya Rao, the step-daughter of a senior serving IPS officer in the state, was trying to call a minister even when she was in custody at Bangalore airport. That she was being helped by a police personnel to evade frisking and checking at the airport, and her numerous trips between Bangalore and Dubai in the recent past has invited the attention of the central investigating agencies, including the CBI, which has sent teams to Bengaluru and Mumbai airports for investigations about her previous trips and connections with others who may be involved in the smuggling ring.

On Monday, the DRI will be producing her in court for an extension of her custody while she has applied for bail in the case. It remains to be seen if the court grants DRI her custody for a longer duration to investigate links that may have appeared after data analysis of her devices and WhatsApp communications.

It is said that many politicians from across the political aisle are on her phone list, and many among them could be spending sleepless nights, nervous as to what kind of details and secrets could tumble out of the investigations. The investigations and analysis of her phone call records would reveal the persons she was in constant and frequent touch with, and most of them could be facing the heat of investigations.

But even before the investigating agencies can come up with definitive reports, a political big fight has erupted with Congress leaders alleging that the actress Ranya Rao was allocated land for her company within a few months of its formation to trace and publicise her link with the previous Basavaraj Bommai regime.

She had apparently allotted 12 acres of land by the previous BJP regime for her company manufacturing steel rods and allied products in the year 2022. Her company was just one year and nine months old when the allotment had been made. The Karnataka government had claimed in a media release and distanced itself from the land allotment.

But senior BJP leader S Prakash told The Statesman on Monday that the question was as to how Ramya Rao was allowed to carry on with the alleged smuggling trips and how police personnel were allowed to help her escape frisking and checking at the airport. “Everyone who is involved must be brought to book and the nation must know who all are involved. Right now, the Karnataka government is very nervous and scared as to what investigations would reveal,” the senior BJP leader said and added, the police officer, the father of the actress, has not even been suspended.

“A very powerful man could be behind her,” Prakash said without revealing his information or suspicions, saying that “we have to wait for the investigations as to what they will throw up. “The same powerful man could be behind the land allotment to Ramya Rao, and he was influential even during the previous regime,” is what the BJP leader told the Statesman.

”What matters is not the matter of land allotment; what matters is how she was allowed to go abroad so many times and bring gold into India without being frisked. Who was supporting her and behind her? We should speak about today and not what happened a few years ago. That is at a later stage,” the senior BJP leader Prakash said.

“Once the name of the person who is behind Ramya Rao comes out, everything will be solved,” Prakash said in a clear-cut indication of the importance of the case and its likely future fallout and impact on the Karnataka government. “Why is the senior officer whose daughter has been arrested in the gold smuggling case allowed to function in office?” Prakash questioned.

”What are the links, and are there any international implications of the case that need to be gone into thoroughly?” the BJP leader said to find out if there was a big international gold smuggling network in operation.

On another side tussle, the investigations could throw up the fact that the CBI, which has pressed in two teams already, has not sought any permission to investigate from the Karnataka government, which is a mandatory requirement. State Home Minister G Parameshwara told media persons that the Karnataka government will not react at this time but will first see what the CBI report, when tabled, says.