ED arrests WinZO games app directors from Bengaluru in alleged money laundering case

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 27 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested the directors of the WinZO games app from Bengaluru for alleged money laundering. The firm is accused of cheating, blocking accounts, impersonation, and the misuse of complainants' PANs, officials said.
Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda were arrested late Wednesday night and produced before the home office of the concerned judge. The court has granted ED custody and directed it to produce them at 11.30 AM on Thursday for detailed arguments on the department's remand application.
On November 18 and November 22, ED's Bengaluru zonal office conducted searches at four locations in Delhi and Gurgaon in the case of the WinZO games app under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
WinZO Games Pvt Ltd is in the business of online real money gaming services through its app - WinZO.
During the searches, ED said that the alleged Proceeds of Crime (POC) possessed by WinZO Games Pvt Ltd, worth around ₹505 crore, have been frozen in the form of bank balances, bonds, fixed deposits, and mutual funds under section 17 (1A) of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Earlier, ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of the FIRs filed against WinZO Games Pvt Ltd and others on the grounds of cheating, blocking of accounts, impersonation, and misuse of PAN. It is also alleged in the FIRs that the complainants' KYC was misused by WinZO and others, and the complainants have suffered substantial loss due to fraudulent activities and cheating by WinZO and others.
ED said its investigation revealed that the WinZO company is operating Real Money Games (RMGs) in foreign countries such as Brazil, the USA and Germany from India (on the same platform used by the Indian entity). Even after the ban of RMGs by the Union Government (with effect on August 22, 2025), an amount of ₹43 crore is still held by the company without refunding to the gamers and customers.
The ED officials further stated that WinZO Pvt Ltd was engaged in alleged criminal activities and unscrupulous practices, with customers playing with algorithms or software without being made aware of the fact that they are not playing any humans on the other side.
"WinZO has also prevented and limited withdrawals of monies held by the customers in the wallets of WinZO Pvt Ltd," said the agency.
As per the ED, WinZO Pvt Ltd also generated Proceeds of Crime (POC) in the form of bet amounts placed and lost by real customers through the "unscrupulous" use of such algorithms and software, which are received by the entity in its bank accounts.
ED said its investigation also revealed that global operations like hosting of all types of games (including RMGs) are undertaken under the single application.
"It was also found that the funds by the Indian entity have been diverted to USA and Singapore under the garb of overseas investments. The funds worth USD 55 Million (₹489.90 crore) have been parked in their bank account in USA (bank accounts held in the name of 'WINZO US Inc), which is a shell company, since all the operations and day-to-day business activities, operation of bank accounts are done from India," the ED said. (ANI)