Karnataka High Court declares Gameskraft founders’ ED arrest illegal, orders release
Weeks after multi-state ED raids targeting the online gaming company, the Karnataka High Court pointed out a failure to adhere to lawful protocols regarding the arrest of Gameskraft founders.
The Karnataka High Court has declared the Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of three Gameskraft founders illegal in a money laundering case (File photo).
The Karnataka High Court Tuesday declared the arrest of three founders of online gaming company Gameskraft by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case illegal and directed their forthwith release from prison.
Justice M Nagaprasanna, while allowing the petitions filed by Deepak Singh, Prithvi Raj Singh, and Vikas Taneja, said, “The writ petitioners are allowed, arrest is declared contrary to law, as a consequence thereof the petitioners shall be set at liberty forthwith, the registry is directed to communicate the order to the prison authorities, to enable release of these petitioners.” A detailed copy of the order is yet to be made available.
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ED had arrested the three founders for allegedly cheating, fraud, and other offences. The ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Gamezkraft Technologies Ltd and its associated entities, based on multiple FIRs alleging cheating, fraud, and other offences against the company and its founders, who operated online real-money gaming platforms such as RummyCulture and RummyTime. Several FIRs registered against the company are also linked to alleged suicides by victims of the online gaming platform scams.
On May 7, ED conducted searches at 17 locations across Karnataka and the National Capital Region (NCR) linked to Gamezkraft group companies, their founders, and employees. Officials seized several incriminating documents. ED is said to have discovered that the founders of the Gamezkraft group are prima facie guilty of money laundering offences, leading to the arrest of the three founders, under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Deepak Singh and Prithvi Raj Singh were arrested in the NCR region, following which the ED obtained transit remand to produce them before a Bengaluru court. Vikas Taneja was arrested in Bengaluru and was produced before the jurisdictional court.
The Karnataka High Court has declared the Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of three Gameskraft founders illegal in a money laundering case (File photo). 
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