BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru Zonal Office, has filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against online gaming company Winzo Private Limited, its directors, and its Indian and foreign subsidiaries, accusing them of laundering proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 3,522.05 crore.
According to a press release on Sunday, the complaint was filed on Friday before the Special Court, naming Winzo Private Limited as the main accused along with its directors Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore, and its wholly owned subsidiaries — Winzo US Inc. (USA), Winzo SG Private Limited (Singapore), and ZO Private Limited. The ED has charged the accused under Sections 3, 4, and 70 of the PMLA, stating that they knowingly generated, concealed and projected the proceeds of crime as untainted property.
The ED initiated the probe based on multiple FIRs registered by Bengaluru CEN Police and police authorities in Rajasthan, New Delhi and Gurugram for offences of cheating under the IPC. As part of the investigation, search and seizure operations were conducted on November 18 and December 30, 2025, at the company’s offices, residence of one of its directors, and its accounting firm. Assets worth approximately Rs 690crore, including bank balances, payment gateway funds, mutual funds, bonds, fixed deposits and cryptocurrency wallets were seized or frozen.
According to the ED, Winzo operates a real money gaming platform offering over 100 games and claims a user base of around 25 crore, largely from Tier-3 and Tier-4 cities. The company allegedly charged commissions on user bets, while assuring players that the platform was free from bots and manipulation.
However, the probe found that the games were systematically manipulated. Till December 2023, the games were allegedly embedded with bots and AI-driven profiles. Between May 2024 and August 2025, Winzo allegedly altered its modus operandi by simulating historical gameplay data of dormant or inactive users against real players without their knowledge. The use of bots was allegedly concealed under misleading internal terms such as ‘Engagement Play’, ‘Past Performance of Player’ and ‘Persona’.
The ED stated that users were initially lured with small bonuses and easy wins to build trust, after which harder bot profiles were deployed
when users began placing higher bets, leading to substantial losses. The agency claims that genuine users lost around Rs 734 crore to bot profiles, while higher-value winnings were often blocked through restrictive withdrawal mechanisms, forcing continued gameplay.
The probe further revealed that Winzo failed to return legitimate user winnings and deposits worth Rs 47.66 crore, even after the Union government banned real money gaming. The company generated total proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 3522.05 crore during the financial years 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The ED stated that the proceeds of crime were laundered through shell companies in the US and Singapore, with about USD 55 million transferred abroad under the guise of overseas direct investment. An additional Rs 230crore was allegedly diverted to a subsidiary as purported loans, while attempts to divert another Rs 150 crore failed due to non-submission of mandatory documents.