ED Arrests Saumya Singh Rathore & Paavan Nanda In WinZo Games App Case, Freezes Assets Worth Rs 505 Crore

New Delhi: The ED has arrested WinZO Games Private Limited directors Soumya Singh Rathore and Pawan Nanda on Wednesday and produced them in court. The court remanded them to ED custody.

The ED has ordered their appearance today (Thursday) at 11:30 am for arguments on the remand application filed by the ED. This action follows recent searches conducted by the ED.

What is the case?

The ED's Bengaluru zonal team conducted major raids in four locations in Delhi and Gurugram between November 18 and 22, 2025, in a money laundering case related to the WinZO Games app. This entire operation was carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

During the investigation, the ED froze suspected funds (Proceeds of Crime) worth approximately Rs 505 crore linked to the company WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd. This money was held in bank accounts, bonds, fixed deposits, and mutual funds.

The ED initiated the investigation based on FIRs that leveled serious allegations against Winzo and others, including fraud, blocking user accounts, creating false identities, misusing PAN cards, and KYC tampering. Several complainants reported that their KYC was misused to facilitate transactions in their names, causing significant financial losses.

What the investigation revealed?

The investigation revealed that Winzo was operating real money games (RMGs) from India using its app in countries like Brazil, the United States, and Germany. It also emerged that despite the central government banning RMGs from August 22, 2025, the company had not refunded approximately Rs 43 crore to customers, and this money remained with the company.

A major revelation during the ED investigation was that Winzo forced its users to play against software and algorithms instead of real players, while customers were told they were playing against real people. The company restricted withdrawals from many users' wallets, resulting in losses. The company illegally profited from the money invested and lost by customers.

Furthermore, the ED investigation revealed that Winzo operated its global operations from India and remitted significant sums of money to the US and Singapore under the guise of overseas investment. Approximately Rs 489.90 crore (55 million USD) was parked in the US account of a shell company named WinZO US Inc., even though the company's entire operations were conducted from India.