The Karnataka High Court extended interim protection to Saumya Rathore, co-founder and director of WinZO Games, an online gaming platform. With this protection, the High Court has restrained ED from taking any coercive action against her while a jurisdictional challenge to the agency’s probe remains pending, Storyboard18 reported.
The Storyboard18 report further said that a bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna said the interim relief granted earlier would continue and scheduled the matter for final hearing on January 23.
FinancialExpress.com could not confirm the news independently. We have written to Winzo and will update as soon as we hear from the company.
Jurisdiction under challenge
Rathore had approached the High Court questioning the ED’s authority to investigate WinZO and its executives from Bengaluru. Her petition seeks the quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED’s Bengaluru zonal office on 6 November 2025, along with its addendum and all consequential proceedings initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Storyboatd 18 report stated.
According to the same report, she has also challenged the remand orders passed by a Bengaluru special court, arguing that they were issued without territorial jurisdiction.
Allegations against WinZO
The ED’s case stems from multiple FIRs registered against WinZO Games and others, alleging cheating, impersonation, blocking of customer accounts and misuse of identity documents. Based on these FIRs, the agency registered an ECIR and arrested Rathore and co-founder Paavan Nanda on 26 November 2025 under the PMLA, as per ED’s official website.
The agency had alleged that WinZO engaged in unfair practices in real-money gaming by deploying algorithms and software without adequately disclosing to users that they were not always competing against human players. It has also claimed that customer withdrawals were restricted and that proceeds of crime were generated from bets placed and lost on the platform.
According to the ED, alleged proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 505 crore have been frozen in the form of bank balances, fixed deposits, bonds and mutual fund investments. The agency has further alleged that WinZO operated real-money gaming services in overseas markets such as the US, Brazil and Germany from India, and diverted funds abroad under the guise of overseas investments. The Storyboard 18 report noted that WinZO has denied all allegations and continues to contest both the substance of the charges and the jurisdiction of the ED’s Bengaluru-based proceedings.