New Delhi/Bengaluru, 27 Nov

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested WinZO co-founders Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda on money laundering charges linked to alleged irregularities in the real-money gaming sector. Officials said the duo were taken into custody in Bengaluru on Wednesday after questioning at the agency’s zonal office and were produced before a local court, which remanded them to one-day ED custody. They are expected to be presented again for further orders.

The ED alleged that WinZO withheld Rs 43 crore belonging to gamers, which should have been refunded after the Centre banned real-money games on 22 August, 2025. The agency last week searched the premises of WinZO, Gamezkraft and their promoters under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

According to investigators, WinZO allowed users to play against algorithms without disclosing that they were not competing against humans, and continued operating real-money games in countries such as Brazil, the US and Germany through a platform hosted in India. Bonds, fixed deposits and mutual funds worth Rs 505 crore held by WinZO Games were frozen.

The agency further alleged that funds were diverted abroad under the guise of overseas investments, with USD 55 million parked in a US-based shell entity.

Responding to the charges, a WinZO spokesperson said the company remains “fully compliant” and committed to ensuring a “secure, trustworthy experience” for users.