Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar speaking to presspersons in Bengaluru on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Even as raids by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) continues at Home Minister G. Parameshwara-run Sri Siddhartha Academy for Higher Education Tumakuru, on Thursday in connection with the Ranya Rao’s gold smuggling case, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, referring to a ₹40 lakh transaction flagged by the agency said that it pertained to a gift by Dr. Parameshwara at Ranya Rao’s wedding. This came even as Dr. Parameshwara refused to comment on the Ranya Rao link.

The ED raided 16 locations linked to Ranya Rao’s financial transactions on Wednesday, which included hawala operators among others.

ED sources said that an educational trust had cleared credit card bill of Ranya Rao to the extent of ₹40 lakh. Sources said while the payment was made on the instructions of an influential individual, the institute did not have any supporting documentation.

Following the raids on Wednesday, Mr. Shivakumar visited Dr. Parameshwara at his residence on Thursday morning and later spoke to mediapersons on multiple occasions through the day.

“As the party president I have to ask him about the raids on his institutions and as to why his name was cropping up. Dr. Parameshwara said it was a gift during a marriage. We are in public life, we run institutions and we give a lot of gifts to people we know — ₹1 lakh, ₹10 lakh, ₹5 lakh, ₹10 lakh, nothing wrong in it,” he said, adding that Dr. Parameshwara may have helped an officer working with him during a marriage in the family by giving a gift and it was “natural”.

He further sought to distance Dr. Parameshwara from allegations of gold smuggling against Ranya Rao. “As far as the woman’s activities are concerned, no politician, let alone a senior leader and Home Minister like Dr. Parameshwara would ask her to smuggle gold. As politicians we meet thousands of people and we cannot be sure of the antecedents of all of them. The case against her is unrelated and let the law take its own course, we will not interfere,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Dr. Parameshwara said ED officials had raided three colleges of Sri Siddhartha Academy for Higher Education.

“They came on Wednesday and Thursday and raids are still on. I have asked our staff to cooperate with the officials and give all accounts they ask for,” he said.

When quizzed over the link to Ranya Rao case, he said it was not prudent to comment when the investigation was under way. “Let the investigation be completed. I don’t want to comment at this stage,” he said.

Ranya Rao, a film actor and stepdaughter of DGP-rank officer K. Ramachandra Rao, was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths on March 3 at Kempegowda International Airport for allegedly smuggling 14.2 kg of gold.