Bengaluru court sends Gameskraft founder Vikas Taneja to 5-day ED custody in money laundering case

A special court in Bengaluru on Friday remanded Gameskraft founder Vikas Taneja to five days’ custody with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case arising out of allegations of manipulation of online real-money gaming platforms.

Principal City Civil and Sessions Court in-charge Judge Shankarappa Nimbanna Kalkani allowed the ED’s remand application and sent Taneja to custody till May 13, 2026.

Taneja is a director of Gameskraft Technologies and RummyCulture Technologies. One of the central allegations in the arrest memo concerns ₹100 crore shown as expenditure in 2020-21 and 2021-22 under heads such as 'software maintenance' and 'consultancy'. 

The ED alleged that vendors returned the amounts in cash after deducting commissions, GST and TDS and that Taneja, as a key managerial person, knowingly participated in concealment, possession, acquisition and use of proceeds of crime under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The case stems from three first information reports (FIRs) registered in Telangana in early 2026. The ED has alleged that the company was involved in operating online gaming platforms that manipulated gameplay, cheated users through deceptive practices and laundered proceeds of crime through bogus business expenditure entries and cash transactions.

The central agency further accused that the platforms “RummyCulture”, “RummyCircle” and “RummyTime” engaged in fraudulent practices while offering online real-money rummy games to the public. 

The agency claimed that users were first lured through bonuses, referral incentives, instant cash rewards and tournament benefits, and that new users were sometimes allowed to win smaller games initially to build confidence and encourage larger deposits. 

It also alleged that despite public claims that gameplay was free from bots, algorithms or automated manipulation, investigation materials indicated duplicated cards, recurring score patterns, collusion among players, forced logouts and arbitrary blocking of user IDs.

The ED further alleged that the company violated its own ‘terms of service’ by allowing thousands of user IDs to be linked to single bank accounts. It further argued that users from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu continued to access the platforms despite restrictions on States where online real-money games are prohibited.

Apart from Taneja, the agency has also arrested co-founders Deepak Singh and Prithvi Raj Singh, who are on transit remand and are expected to be produced before the court on Saturday.

Special Public Prosecutor Maheshwari DM appeared for the ED.

Advocate V Sampreet represented Taneja.