A Bengaluru sessions court granted bail to Winzo Games co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore under the PMLA women-accused exemption, while denying relief to co-founder Paavan Nanda and allowing the Enforcement Directorate to extend his custodial interrogation.
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BENGALURU: A sessions court in Bengaluru has granted bail to Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder and director of Winzo Games Pvt Ltd, in a money-laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court, however, declined similar relief to her co-founder, Paavan Nanda, allowing the central agency to retain him in custody for further interrogation.
The order was delivered on December 26 by Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge M. Chandrashekar Reddy while hearing a complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
ALSO READ: WinZO Co-Founders Arrested: ED Gets 10-Day Custody in Massive Money Laundering Probe
Background
The money-laundering investigation was initiated on November 6, following three separate FIRs registered in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Delhi. Acting on these predicate offences, the ED conducted coordinated search operations at the residences and offices linked to Winzo Games between November 18 and 22.
Both Rathore and Nanda were arrested on November 26 after the agency claimed to have uncovered financial and digital evidence pointing to large-scale irregularities.
According to the ED, the online gaming platform allegedly deployed automated systems, including algorithms and BOTs, to influence gameplay outcomes. The agency claims these practices generated illicit gains amounting to ₹177 crore.
Investigators have further alleged that the funds were routed to overseas entities, with the laundering process facilitated through cloud infrastructure hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The case also involves alleged misuse of user identities and cross-border transactions estimated at nearly USD 55 million.
Court’s Order
While granting bail to Rathore, the court relied heavily on the statutory exemption available to women accused under Section 45 of the PMLA. The judge ruled that the otherwise strict “twin conditions” for bail under the anti-money laundering law did not apply in her case.
“Accused No.1 being a ‘woman’, her case falls under the proviso to Section 45(1)(ii) of PML Act and the twin conditions are not applicable in her case,”
the court observed.
The court also took note of the fact that Rathore had already been subjected to extensive custodial questioning, observing that continued detention was unnecessary merely because further evidence collection was underway.
“Merely because she has to be confronted with statements of her employees or that some more evidence is to be collected, that will be no ground for seeking Accused No.1 for further custody by ED,”
the order stated.
Rathore was directed to:
- Execute a personal bond of ₹5 lakh with two sureties
- Surrender her passport
- Do not leave the country without court permission
- Cooperate with the ongoing investigation
In contrast, the court found that Paavan Nanda failed to meet the statutory threshold for bail under the PMLA. The judge observed that, at this stage, it could not be concluded that Nanda was unlikely to be involved in the alleged offence or that he would refrain from influencing witnesses or evidence.
“I am unable to subscribe to his view that he has reasonably made out a case that he is not guilty of the alleged offences and that he is unlikely to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses,”
the judge said.
Accepting the ED’s submissions, the court noted that the investigation had assumed a transnational character, with large volumes of digital data still under scrutiny.
“The materials on record would show that the investigation is becoming more transnational and that huge amount of data is collected to prima-facie show the complicity of Accused No.2,”
the order noted.
As a result, the ED was granted custodial interrogation of Nanda from December 27 to December 30. The court, however, directed the agency to ensure humane treatment and provide daily access to legal counsel during this period.
Case Title:
Enforcement Directorate Vs Saumya Singh Rathore & Paavan Nanda
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