The Enforcement Directorate’s Bengaluru zonal workplace has filed a chargesheet criticism towards Winzo, its promoters, and group entities, alleging large-scale manipulation of on-line video games, person losses working into a whole bunch of crores, and laundering of proceeds via home and abroad shell firms.

The criticism was filed on January 23, 2026, earlier than the Particular Court docket beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) in Bengaluru.

The accused embrace Winzo Pvt. Ltd., its administrators Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore, and its wholly owned subsidiaries, together with Winzo US Inc. in the USA, Winzo SG Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, and Indian entity ZO Pvt. Ltd.

The ED initiated its investigation primarily based on a number of FIRs registered by the Bengaluru CEN Police Station and police authorities in Rajasthan, New Delhi, and Gurugram for alleged dishonest offences beneath the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

As a part of the probe, the company carried out search and seizure operations on November 18, 2025, and December 30, 2025, protecting Winzo’s workplace premises, the residence of one among its administrators, and the workplace of its accounting agency.

These searches led to the seizure of paperwork and digital data, and the freezing of movable property together with financial institution balances, cost gateway balances, mutual funds, bonds, fastened deposits, and cryptocurrency wallets. The overall worth of hooked up and frozen property was estimated at roughly Rs 690 crore.

Winzo operates a mobile-based real-money gaming platform providing greater than 100 video games, with a claimed person base of about 25 crore customers, largely from tier-3 and tier-4 cities. The corporate earned income by charging a fee on person betting quantities and warranted gamers that its platform was clear, safe, and freed from bots.

In accordance with the ED, forensic evaluation of recreation codebases, third-party developer agreements, and inside communications revealed that the video games have been manipulated. Till December 2023, a number of real-money video games have been allegedly embedded with bots, AI instruments, and algorithm-driven participant profiles.

Between Might 2024 and August 2025, the company stated the corporate modified its method by simulating historic gameplay information of dormant or inactive customers and deploying these profiles towards actual gamers with out their data or consent.

To hide these practices, the investigation discovered that Winzo internally referred to such bots and simulated gamers utilizing phrases comparable to “Engagement Play”, “Previous Efficiency of Participant”, and “Persona”.

Customers have been initially supplied small bonuses and matched towards simpler bots, permitting restricted withdrawals and creating a way of belief. As gamers elevated their betting quantities, more durable or successful bots have been allegedly deployed, leading to sustained losses.

The ED said that real customers incurred losses of roughly Rs 734 crore attributable to these bot-driven performs. It additional alleged that even when gamers received at larger stakes, withdrawals have been restricted via platform controls, forcing continued gameplay.

The company additionally claimed that Winzo did not return legit person winnings and deposits amounting to Rs 47.66 crore even after the Union authorities banned real-money gaming apps in August 2025.

Based mostly on its findings, the ED has estimated that Winzo generated proceeds of crime price Rs 3,522.05 crore between FY22 and FY26, as much as August 22, 2025.

The company additionally cited proof from seized digital units indicating that the platform’s practices prompted extreme monetary misery amongst customers, significantly these from weaker financial backgrounds, with experiences of utmost psychological stress and suicidal tendencies.

The investigation additional alleged that the proceeds have been laundered via shell firms included within the US and Singapore. Round USD 55 million was reportedly transferred to abroad financial institution accounts beneath the guise of abroad direct funding.

As well as, Rs 230 crore was allegedly diverted to a subsidiary as purported loans from the holding firm with none legit enterprise rationale. An try and divert one other Rs 150 crore via the ODI route failed attributable to non-submission of necessary audit and utilisation certificates.

In its prosecution criticism, the ED stated it has established that the accused knowingly generated, possessed, used, hid, and tried to undertaking the proceeds of crime as untainted property. The company has invoked offences beneath Part 3 of the PMLA, learn with Part 70, punishable beneath Part 4 of the Act.

Additional investigation within the case is ongoing.