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Key Points
ED arrests WinZO directors Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore under PMLA.
The ED alleged that customers were misled into playing real-money games against algorithms, not humans.
₹505 crore in assets frozen; probe points to overseas diversion via a US shell company.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on 26 November 2025, arrested WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd. directors Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). WinZO is a mobile platform that offers third-party games and content to users across India in variety of regional languages. The case was linked to WinZO’s real-money online gaming operations.
The action comes after search operations at WinZO’s New Delhi corporate office and at the residence of Rathore between 18 and 22 November 2025. These were based on multiple FIRs alleging cheating, account blocking, impersonation and misuse of PAN details by the company and associated entities.
According to the ED, preliminary findings indicate that WinZO engaged in fraudulent practices by allegedly making users play real-money games against algorithms or software, without informing them they were not competing against human opponents. Investigators claim this mechanism enabled the company to generate substantial “proceeds of crime” through bets placed and lost by customers, with winnings and withdrawals allegedly restricted or blocked.
The agency has so far frozen ₹505 crore in assets, including bank balances, mutual funds, bonds and fixed-deposit receipts. The accused were produced before a sessions judge in Bengaluru, where the court granted 10 days of ED custody for further investigation.
The ED further stated that WinZO continued operating real-money games in foreign jurisdictions such as Brazil, Germany, and the US, through the same platform used in India, despite a ban on such activities.
The probe has also flagged suspected diversion of funds overseas. The ED alleges that around ₹490 crore was transferred to bank accounts in the US held in the name of “WINZO US Inc.” The ED described the corporation as a shell company because operational decisions, bank account handling and day-to-day activities were allegedly controlled from India. Funds were also routed to Singapore “under the garb of overseas investments,” the agency said.
In its press statement, the ED reiterated that WinZO’s activities amounted to criminal misconduct involving cheating and algorithmic manipulation for profit. The agency stated that the company’s real-money gaming model, coupled with alleged concealment of automated gameplay and restricted customer withdrawals, formed the core of the money-laundering allegations.
The investigation remains ongoing, with the ED indicating that further scrutiny of overseas transactions, digital infrastructure and internal decision-making processes of the company will continue under court-monitored custody.
WinZO has since filed a writ petition before Karnataka High Court, alleging that the ED’s raids, seizures, and freezing of its assets were “illegal, arbitrary and exceeds the powers conferred” to the agnecy under the PMLA. [Rh]
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