ED files chargesheet against gameskraft founders in Rs 19,984 Crore money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet in a Bengaluru court against three Gameskraft founders and associated entities for laundering ₹19,984 crore generated by cheating online rummy players. The probe stems from FIRs over player addiction, losses, and suicides

New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a chargesheet against three founder directors of online gaming company Gameskraft and others, accusing them of being involved in laundering proceeds of crime generated by “cheating” players of rummy games offered by their platform.

Vikas Taneja, Prithvi Raj Singh and Deepak Singh Ahlawat were arrested by the federal probe agency in May under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). However, the Karnataka High Court in June declared their arrests invalid and contrary to the law.

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The three founders of the company could not be contacted immediately for their reaction to the development. Officials said the ED is preparing to challenge the HC order against their arrest before the Supreme Court and that the filing of the chargesheet against the three was a bona fide exercise as there was no bar on filing of a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against them.

The ED said in a statement that the chargesheet was filed before a Bengaluru court on July 25. Gameskraft Technologies, RummyTime Technologies and the three founders and their associated persons have been named as accused in the chargesheet for their involvement in laundering proceeds of crime generated by “cheating” the online real money gaming (Rummy games) users.

The agency said the probe stems from multiple police FIRs filed in Telangana and this includes a few cases where some people ended their lives due to the “financial and psychological distress” caused to them because of addiction and loss of money in these games.

“The total proceeds of crime generated by these accused companies in the form of commission is Rs 19,984 crore for the financial years 2017-18 to 2025-26 (till 22/08/2025),” according to the ED.

The agency said in a statement on Friday that it attached fresh assets worth Rs 1,906 crore of Gameskraft as it alleged that the platform created an “addictive” gaming environment that encouraged “repeated wagering” for the players.

The provisionally attached assets included bank and fixed deposits, mutual funds, convertible notes, equity shares, a farmhouse, and multiple residential and commercial immovable properties held in the names of the shareholders of Gameskraft’s Technologies Pvt. Ltd., their family members, private family trusts and associated entities, it said.

The attachment was made in the case related to the RummyCulture, RummyPrime, Playship and RummyTime apps. Gameskraft and RummyTime Technologies, according to the ED, were engaged in operating online Real Money Games (RMGs) through the said apps and they had a user base of around 3 crore players primarily in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Online money gaming was banned in India by the Union government in August 2025. The total attachment, seizure and freezing of assets in this case stands at Rs 2,401 crore.