Karnataka High Court Grants Two Weeks To WinZO Co-Founder Paavan Nanda To Respond To ED's Bail Cancellation Plea

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday (April 23) granted co-founder of WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd Paavan Nanda, two weeks time to file his objections to Enforcement Directorate's plea for cancelling his bail granted by a Sessions Court in February. 

The single judge bench of Justice S Rachaiah told Nanda's counsel that the matter would be taken up again during the vacation bench sitting in May.

For context, on November 26, 2025 the ED arrested Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore, Directors of WinZO under PMLA  for their alleged involvement in the offence of money laundering.

The Sessions Court had granted Nanda in February 2026, subject to furnishing financial sureties and surrendering his passport. Back in December 2025, while granting bail to Rathore, the Sessions Court had initially declined to grant Nanda the same relief.

According to the ED, the investigation and search at WinZO allegedly revealed fraudulent practices and manipulation of gaming outcomes, causing financial loss to users. The total proceeds of crime allegedly generated by WinZO come around Rs 3522 crores from 2021 to 2025, ED alleges. ED had also alleged that WinZO engaged in money laundering by transferring funds to its shell subsidiary.

Earlier, the ED Bengaluru Zonal Office has conducted search operations at the office premises of WinZO and the residential premises of Rathore, based on the FIRs filed against WinZO and others on the grounds of cheating, blocking of accounts, impersonation, misuse of PAN etc.

It is alleged that WinZO also generated Proceeds of Crime (POC) in the form of bet amounts placed and lost by real customers through the unscrupulous use of such algorithms/software, which are received by the entity in its bank accounts.

As a result, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs. 505 Crore were frozen in the form of bank balances, bonds, FDRs, and mutual funds under section 17 (1)A PMLA.

Case Title: Directorate Of Enforcement V. Paavan Nanda

Case No: CRL.P 3606/2026