Who is actress Ranya Rao’s father, IPS officer K. Ramachandra Rao?

Kannada actress Ranya Rao is in news for all the wrong reasons, after getting arrested for trying to smuggle gold into India from Dubai. She was intercepted at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials, who recovered 14.2kg gold worth Rs 12.56 crore from her. More gold was later recovered following a raid at her apartment on Lavelle Road in the city.

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Her step-father, Karnataka DGP K. Ramachandra Rao, distanced himself from her after the incident came to light. "She (Ranya Rao) got married four months ago and hasn’t visited us since. We are unaware of her or her husband's business dealings. This has come as a huge shock and disappointment. The law will take its course,” he told Times of India.

Who is K. Ramachandra Rao, Ranya Rao’s father?

K. Ramachandra Rao has been the Director General of Police (DGP) since October 2023.

While serving as an Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Southern Range, his name figured in a controversial money seizure. In early 2014, a Calicut-bound private bus was stopped near Mysuru’s Yelwal, where Mysore South Police seized the amount that was being transported by four Kerala-based merchants. While the police claimed to have seized Rs 20 lakh, the merchants alleged that the total sum seized was Rs 2.27 crore, and accused the police of colluding with another businessman to loot them.

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One of the officers present during the raid on the bus was Rao’s gunman Prakash. Rao denied all allegations, but he was transferred soon after. “In Rao’s case, the CID has clearly mentioned that there was a great degree of lapse on the part of Rao and a deputy superintendent of police after it was brought to their notice that a few policemen, including a gunman attached to the IGP, were involved in the robbery,” a senior police officer told the Bangalore Mirror.

Rao currently serves as the Chairman & MD of Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, too.