The ED carried out search operations at the office premises of WinZO’s accounting firm on December 30, 2025 and froze the “proceeds of crime”
Notably, WinZO cofounder Rathore was granted bail by a Bengaluru sessions court a few days ago, according to a report
In a separate petition in the Karnataka HC, WinZO argued that the amount frozen was disproportionate to the amount involved in the alleged offence
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen gaming startup WinZO’s assets worth INR 192 Cr in a money laundering probe.
In a statement, the agency said it carried out search operations at the office premises of WinZO’s accounting firm on December 30, 2025 and froze the “proceeds of crime” which were in the form of bank balances, FD receipts, and mutual funds.
This comes over a month after the ED arrested WinZO’s cofounders Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda under the sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In November, the agency also froze assets worth INR 505 Cr linked to WinZO.
Earlier, the ED conducted search and seizure operations at the office premises of winzo and residential premises of its directors on November 18. It has alleged that its investigation revealed that the startup, which offered real money games, was engaged in criminal activities and lured customers to bet on and play without informing them that they were playing with bots, AI, and algorithms.
It has said that the startup prevented or allowed limited withdrawals of money from customers’ accounts and was in possession of users’ monies amounting to INR 43 Cr even after the ban on real money gaming.
The ED has also accused WinZO of taking a part of the “proceeds of crime” out of India to the US and Singapore under the garb of overseas investments.
“Funds worth $54 Mn have been parked in their bank account in the US (bank account held in the name of ‘WINZO US Inc.’), which is a shell company, since all the operations and day-to-day business activities, operation of bank accounts is done from India,” the statement said.
WinZO Cofounder Rathore Gets Bail
Notably, WinZO cofounder Rathore was granted bail by a Bengaluru sessions court a few days ago, according to a report by Bar and Bench.
The court said Rathore was entitled to the benefit of the provisions under the PMLA, which exclude accused women from the ambit of stringent bail conditions. However, it refused to grant bail to Nanda.
In a separate petition in the Karnataka HC, WinZO argued that the amount frozen was disproportionate to the amount involved in the alleged offence. WinZO also urged the court to declare the search and seizure operations carried out by the ED as illegal and void.
Following this, the Karnataka High Court reportedly directed the ED to consider a proposal to de-freeze the bank accounts of the gaming platform in lieu of a bank guarantee worth INR 505 Cr. The HC also sought detailed disclosures and financials related to WinZO’s subsidiaries and related entities, both in India and overseas.
It is pertinent to note that the Centre imposed a blanket ban on real money gaming in the country in August last year, which resulted in all such platforms, including WinZO, Dream11, MPL, among others, suspending their offerings in the segment in India. The move also resulted in real money gaming startups laying off hundreds of employees.
Following the ban, real money gaming startups pivoted to new business models. As part of this, WinZO ventured into the US market to take its gaming technology global. It also forayed into the short video market by launching ZO TV.
Founded in 2018, WinZO has raised a funding of over $110 Mn to date from investors like Courtside Ventures, Makers Fund, Kalaari Capital, among others.
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