India, April 24 -- The curious gold-plated case of a celebrity, policeman and criminals

After a year in the Bengaluru central prison, a once-celebrated-and-now-defamed actor walked out. Last year, Ranya Rao, a Kannada celebrity, was sentenced to preventive custody due to her involvement in high-profile gold-smuggling cases, which involved her step-father, the former DGP, who was suspended twice and remains so, a local jeweller, and gang members spread across the globe. The yellow metal links spread from the US to Bengaluru, India to Dubai. It involved the illegal sale of gold locally and the rerouting of the money abroad via hawala. The case sounds more like a plot for a thriller, potboiler movie.

Last year, after Ranya got bail from a ...