Shocking games: ED arrests WinZO founders in PMLA case
New Delhi, Nov 26, 2025
Synopsis
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested WinZO Games founders Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda under PMLA. The agency froze ₹505 crore in proceeds of crime after searches, alleging WinZO used a concealed algorithm ('PPP') to generate automated gameplay, leading to illicit gains of ₹177 crore and user losses. The company also allegedly restricted fund withdrawals.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda, founders of WinZO Games Pvt Ltd, under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The duo was summoned by the federal agency on Wednesday for questioning at its Bengaluru zonal office. After detailed questioning, the agency took them into custody, people familiar with the matter told ET.
Earlier this week, the ED conducted searches at four locations of the gaming company in Delhi and Gurugram. Following the operations, the agency froze proceeds of crime worth about ₹505 crore in the form of bank balances, bonds, FDRs and mutual funds.
In a related development, the people cited above told ET that the agency will soon issue summons to the founders of Gameskraft Technologies Pvt Ltd (GTPL), another gaming company under the ED's scanner.
The ED's investigation into WinZO Games has found that the company claimed publicly that the real-money games (RMGs) offered on its mobile app were free from any form of bots, algorithms or automated devices.
"However, evidence gathered during the search proceedings established that the company has, in fact, been deploying a concealed algorithm called 'PPP' (past performance of player). Under this mechanism, when a real-time user engages in an RMG, the software selects the historical gameplay profile of an existing user from the company's database and uses it to generate automated gameplay," an official told ET on condition of anonymity.
He added, "Though the company claimed that the past plays used by the PPP are drawn from user history, no evidence has been provided to substantiate this. Moreover, the real-time participant is not informed that the opponent is not a human player but an algorithm-controlled profile."
The users whose profiles are deployed for PPP-based automated gameplay have neither been informed nor provided consent for such use of their identity or gameplay history, he added.
People in the know further told ET that the ED's probe found that "PPP-enabled games resulted in illicit gains of approximately ₹177 crore to the company and corresponding losses to genuine users over the past 14 months".
The ED's investigation has also claimed that the gaming company allegedly indulged in unethical and restrictive business practices. "While users were permitted to add money to their in-app wallets without any limitation, they were not allowed to withdraw these deposited funds at their discretion," another official told ET.
The company has been accused of blocking wallets arbitrarily and without valid or documented grounds.
[The Economic Times]
