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Who is Paavan Nanda? WinZO co-founder arrested by ED on money laundering charges
The ED had, in a statement on Monday alleged that the company had “held” funds to the tune of ₹43 crore belonging to the gamers.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda, co-founders of WinZO, an online money gaming platform.
Both Rathore and Nanda were held in Bengaluru on Wednesday on charges of money-laundering, after being questioned at the zonal office of the probe agency, PTI news agency reported.
The ED had, in a statement on Monday alleged that the company had “held” funds to the tune of ₹43 crore of the gamers, adding that the amount should have been refunded to players after the ban on real-money gaming in the country.
Also Read | Who is Saumya Singh Rathore? WinZO co-founder held on money laundering charges
“Even after the ban of RMGs by the Union government (w.e.f. 22/08/2025), an amount of ₹43 crore is still held by the company without refunding to the gamers/customers,” the ED statement said.
Who is Paavan Nanda?
Nanda, 38, is the co-founder of WinZo, a real-money gaming platform in India which also has global operations, including in Brazil, United States, and Germany.
Nanda founded WinZO seven years ago, before which he had co-founded Zostel and ZO Rooms in 2013. Zostel is a chain of backpacker hostels across India. Its brother venture, ZO Rooms, which has now closed, was a hotel aggregator which provided affordable stays for tourists.
According to Nanda's LinkedIn profile, he has also worked at Merrill Lynch, one of the noted wealth management businesses in the world.
Nanda completed his Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in 2009 from Netaji Subhas Institude of Technology in New Delhi. Following this, he pursued a degree in Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance and Strategy from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta.
What ED said on the case against WinZO
The ED had raided the premises of WinZO and Gamezkraft, another online gaming company, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), PTI reported.
In its statement, ED accused WinZO of “engaging in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices”, saying customers were playing with algorithms without knowing that they were playing against a software and not with humans.
Also Read | Online games involving real money linked to terror financing, Centre tells SC
The agency said bonds, fixed deposits, and mutual funds worth ₹505 crore “possessed” by WinZO were frozen under the PMLA. The ED also alleged the company had prevented or limited withdrawals of money which the customers held in their wallets, and had generated alleged illicit funds from bet amounts lost by gamers through the "unscrupulous" use of algorithms/software.
In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for WinZO said that “fairness and transparency are core” to how the company “designs and operates its platform.”
