The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested WinZO co-founders Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore on charges of money laundering, officials said on Thursday.
According to PTI, both were produced before a local court in Bengaluru the same night and the court remanded them in one-day custody. Officials said he is expected to appear again for a detailed hearing.
On Monday, ED said the company “held” ₹43 million belongs to players, funds that should ideally be returned to players after India’s ban on real money gaming.
Who is Paavan Nanda?
Paavan Nanda, 38, is an Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of WinZO, India’s leading real money and social gaming platform. Before founding WinZO in 2018, he helped build Zostel, a backpacker hostel chain, and its sister business ZO Rooms, which aggregates budget hotels. In education, Paavan Nanda received his Bachelor of Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), New Delhi in 2014 and his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C).
The combined net worth of Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore is said to be worth ₹962 million.
Last week, the ED raided the premises of WinZO and Gamezkraft, another online gaming company, along with their promoters, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It accused WinZO of “participating in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices as customers were forced to play with algorithms, unaware of the fact that they are playing with software and not people in real money games.”
The ED further said that WinZO operates Real Money Games (RMG) in countries like Brazil, USA and Germany from India (on the same platform used by the Indian entity).
It claimed: “Even after the ban on RMG by the Union Government (wef 22/08/2025), the amount ₹43 million is still held by the company with no refund to players/customers.
Bonds, fixed deposits and mutual funds in value ₹505 crores “owned” by WinZO Games was frozen under PMLA.
In response to the allegations, a WinZO spokesperson said: “Fairness and transparency are fundamental to how WinZO designs and operates its platform.” They added: “Our focus remains on protecting our users and providing a secure and trusted environment,” noting that it continues to remain fully compliant with all applicable laws.
