Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bengaluru Zonal Office, has provisionally attached movable properties — balance in the foreign bank accounts, maintained in the USA and Singapore, amounting to USD 55.69 Million (Rs 505 crore), held in the names of overseas shell companies operated and controlled by one Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore, under Public Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an official statement said on Wednesday.
The company is accused of using artificial or automated gaming profiles in real-money games, which may have unfairly impacted players and led to monetary losses. To date, the total proceeds of crime attached/frozen in the instant case are around Rs 1,194 crore.
The action has been taken in the case of Winzo Pvt Ltd, which caused loss to the users by applying BOT/AI/Algorithm profiles in the online real money games and generated proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 3,522.05 crore, the ED stated.
The immovable properties and balance in foreign bank accounts were held in the names of M/s Winzo Pvt Ltd, viz M/s Winzo US Inc, USA & M/s Winzo SG Pvt Ltd, Singapore.
Earlier, ED conducted search and seizure operations at the office premises of Winzo Pvt Ltd, and the residential premises of its director on Nov 18, 2025 and its accounting firm on Dec 30, 2025. The evidence unearthed during the search and subsequent investigation revealed that the company was engaged in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices, i.e. customers were made to play with BOTs, AI, Algorithms, software termed as PPP/EP/Persona, without being made aware of the fact that they are playing with BOTs and not with humans in real money games.
Winzo also prevented and limited withdrawals of money held by the customers in the wallets of Winzo Pvt Ltd.
Winzo also generated proceeds of crime in the form of ‘Rake Commission’ from the matches played by BOTs with the real players on their Winzo App. Further, by using the BOTs in a restrictive environment for withdrawing the funds, the users were induced to play more and more matches.
Through repeated gameplay under these conditions, users’ deposited amounts were progressively appropriated by the company in the form of rake commission charged on each match.
The cumulative effect of this mechanism enabled the company systematically convert users’ deposits into revenue, i.e., rake commission. In this manner, the company has derived total proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 3,522.05 crore, for the financial years 2021-22 to 2025-26, till Aug 22, 2025.
So far, the ED has frozen movable and immovable properties amounting to Rs 689 crore in the instant case. Further, a part of the direct proceeds of crime has been taken out of India to the USA and Singapore under the garb of overseas investments.
All the operations and day-to-day business activities, including the operation of bank accounts is done from India. However, the funds worth USD 55 million have been parked in their bank account in the USA and Singapore.
Further, a prosecution complaint has been filed before the Special Court of PMLA, Bengaluru, on Jan 23. To date, the total proceeds of crime attached and frozen in the instant case are around Rs 1,194 crores.
Further investigation is underway.
(IANS)
