Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Against High Court Order Quashing Gameskraft Executives' Arrests

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on the Enforcement Directorate's challenge to the Karnataka High Court order quashing the arrests of Gameskraft founder Deepak Singh and company executives Vikas Taneja and Prithvi Raj Singh in a money laundering case arising from alleged losses suffered by users of the company's online gaming platforms.

A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale issued notice on the ED's plea and directed the executives to respond to the challenge.

The case arose from criminal complaints concerning alleged losses suffered by users of Gameskraft's online gaming platforms.

An earlier Bengaluru FIR led to an ED case in November 2025, but the High Court stayed those proceedings on January 22, 2026, after the underlying criminal case was closed. Three fresh FIRs were subsequently registered in Telangana alleging losses of about ₹53,080, ₹1.85 crore and ₹40 lakh, following which the ED registered a fresh ECIR on February 23, 2026.

The ED then conducted searches at the petitioners' premises in Bengaluru and Gurugram on May 7 and 8, 2026, and arrested all three. The High Court found that no summons had been issued before the arrests and held that the new proceedings substantially repackaged material already considered earlier without any fresh tangible material justifying arrest.

The High Court consequently held that the statutory requirements under Section 19 PMLA were not satisfied and quashed the arrests, directing restoration of their liberty.