ED freezes Rs 192 crore linked to Winzo in money laundering probe

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen assets worth around Rs 192 crore after conducting search operations linked to online real money gaming (RMG) platform WinZO, according to an official statement issued on Thursday.

The searches were conducted on December 30 by the ED’s Bengaluru zonal office at the premises of an accounting firm associated with WinZO, as part of a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

During the operation, the agency froze what it described as “proceeds of crime” held by ZO Games, WinZO’s fully-owned Indian subsidiary. The assets include bank balances, fixed deposits, and mutual fund investments, totalling around Rs 192 crore.


In November, the ED arrested WinZO cofounders Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore on money laundering charges. The action followed search operations in Delhi and Gurugram that led to the freezing of deposits worth around Rs 523 crore belonging to WinZO and other gaming firms, including Gameskraft.

The ED has levelled multiple allegations against WinZO, including what it calls “bot fraud”, alleging that the platform made users compete against bots instead of human players without disclosure, generating illicit gains of about Rs 177 crore while users incurred guaranteed losses.

The agency has also accused the company of withholding players’ funds, claiming WinZO continued to hold around Rs 43 crore that should have been refunded to users despite legal provisions mandating a winding down of RMG operations.

Additionally, investigators flagged an alleged diversion of funds to overseas jurisdictions such as the US and Singapore under the guise of foreign investments, which the ED views as an attempt to launder the proceeds of crime.

A Bengaluru court granted bail to Rathore earlier this week, while a similar plea by Nanda was denied.

This comes amid a broader crackdown on online gaming and betting platforms in the country. The scrutiny intensified after the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which imposed a blanket ban on RMG.

Defending the ban before the Supreme Court earlier this year, the central government had said in an affidavit that the “unchecked expansion” of online money games posed a threat to national security.