The real money gaming industry was dealt a deadly blow when the government had all but banned the sector last month, but one of the biggest names in the space had been apparently dealt an even more severe blow by one of its own executives.
Ramesh Prabhu, the former CFO of Gameskraft Technologies which ran brands like RummyCulture, Gamezy, Playship, Pocket52 and Ludo Select, has said in an email that he diverted Rs. 250 crore of the company’s funds over four years to trade futures and options in the Indian stock market. As per Moneycontrol, Prabhu himself confessed to doing this in an email sent to the company’s executives on 5th March 2025. He hadn’t reported to work since 1st March 2025, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
Prabhu sent a voluntary mail confessing his illegal activities. He took full ownership of his misconduct, conceding that his actions represented a serious breach of trust placed in him as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He also insisted that no other employees were complicit or aware of the scheme.
After GamesCraft investigated the matter, it discovered that Ramesh Prabhu had executed unauthorised financial transactions totaling Rs. 231.39 crore between FY20 and FY25. He had transferred this amount to his personal bank account with RBL Bank, of which he had sole control, and then used money to trade futures and options. He had also created fake mutual funds documents as proof of investments in an effort to conceal these transactions, and recorded this money as investments in the company’s books.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, 47-year old Prabhu joined Gameskraft as CFO in 2018. Prior to this, he was the co-founder and CEO of Three Wheels United, which helped facilitate affordable financing loans for autorickshaw drivers. He has an MBA from ISB.
Prabhu would’ve likely hoped to make profits through F&O trading, and then return the original amounts to the company, while keeping the gains to himself. It appears that he instead lost the money, and was forced to send the confession mail, and then abscond.
GamesKraft has now filed an FIR against Prabhu in Marathahalli police station on 9th September. In the FIR, Gameskraft alleged that Prabhu “dishonestly” siphoned off funds amounting to Rs 270.43 crore over nearly five years and used these funds for his own trading activities without the company’s authority, consent, or approval.
The FIR lists multiple offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), corresponding to provisions of the Indian Penal Code. These include theft (Section 303 BNS / 378 IPC), criminal breach of trust (Section 316 BNS / 405 IPC), fraudulent concealment of property (Section 323 BNS / 424 IPC), forgery (Sections 335 and 336 BNS / 463 and 464 IPC), and falsification of accounts (Section 344 BNS / 477A IPC).
Gameskraft is a Bangalore-based startup that was founded in 2017 by Prithvi Singh. It focuses on developing India-centric, skill-based online gaming platforms. The company has over 400 employees, creating popular gaming platforms like RummyCulture, Gamezy, Pocket52, and Ludo Select. GamesKraft pioneered features like same-day withdrawals and became the first Indian gaming company to organize the world’s largest online rummy tournament, earning a Guinness World Record.
Like other real-money gaming companies, GamesKraft too shut down all its real-money games after the government had banned them through legislation last month. But it appears that even before the ban, the company had been teetering on the brink with over Rs. 250 crore of its funds having been siphoned off by its own CFO.