Ranya rao case: ed raids karnataka hm parameshwara linked institutions for second day

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, May 22, continued its raids for the second consecutive day on educational institutions linked to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara in

Tumakuru city, in connection with the gold smuggling case involving Kannada actress Ranya Rao. Sources said the ED is investigating financial transactions tied to Parameshwara’s educational

trust after a payment of Rs 40 lakh was allegedly made to Ranya Rao’s account from the trust’s funds. The amount was reportedly paid on oral instructions and recorded as a payment for

providing workers, with the trust clearing a credit card bill of the same value. An official statement from the ED is awaited. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, addressing the media, said

that the money given to Ranya Rao might have been a wedding gift from Parameshwara. “I visited Home Minister Parameshwara this morning and spoke to him. He told me that he had given Rs 15

to 25 lakh. We are all in public life. Many of us run trusts. During marriages and other occasions, it is common to give gifts.” When specifically asked whether Parameshwara had given money

to Ranya Rao, the main accused in the gold smuggling case, Shivakumar replied, “He might have given it to her. There were marriage ceremonies in their family, and he could have given it as a

gift.” “When I met Parameshwara, I asked him about it, and he told me that the money was gifted during a marriage. That’s quite natural,” he reiterated. “That doesn’t mean an influential

person like Parameshwara would have asked her to carry out gold smuggling. Will anyone support such an act? If that woman has done something wrong, she will be punished according to the

law,” Shivakumar said. “We have no objection to legal action being taken against her. As far as Parameshwara is concerned, he is a law-abiding citizen and the Home Minister of the state. We

are proud of him. He is a senior leader,” he added. Shivakumar further said, “He served as the State Congress President for eight years and has contributed significantly to the state. He has

been an MLA since 1989, along with me, and has served as a minister. I have known him for a long time -- he is an honest and clean man. If he gave anything, it would have been a wedding

gift.” “I met him this morning and told him that we stand by him,” he added. “In public life, we often give wedding gifts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh. He might have done the same.

There’s nothing wrong with that. No minister or politician will support the actions of the woman involved. It is her personal matter, and the law will take its own course,” he reiterated.

“As far as Parameshwara is concerned, he meets thousands of people every day. He may not know everyone’s background. The law will take its own course, and we don’t intend to interfere,”

Shivakumar said. Parameshwara, speaking briefly to the media earlier in the day, declined to comment directly on the raids or the allegations. “The investigation is ongoing. The outcome at

the end is what matters. Until then, everything is speculative,” he said, adding that he would refrain from making speculative remarks due to his position. The development has triggered a

political storm, with the BJP linking the gold smuggling case to the ED action against Parameshwara’s institutions. Leader of Opposition R Ashoka claimed that the ED was probing whether

smuggling proceeds were invested in the Siddhartha Educational Institutions run by the minister. “The ED is a government agency. It is established in the investigation that the gold was

brought here and given to many persons. They might have got information that the gold smuggling money was being invested in the institutions,” Ashoka said. Meanwhile, the Congress hit back

at the BJP, accusing the Centre of misusing investigative agencies. Karnataka Congress in-charge and national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the ED raids were a politically

motivated move targeting Parameshwara, a prominent Dalit leader. “The ED raids on the educational institutions of Karnataka’s Home Minister G Parameshwara, one of the tallest SC leaders, is

a frustrated reaction of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to the decision to grant ownership rights to 1 lakh SC-ST families in Hospet,” Surjewala posted on social media

platform X.