FIR against Gameskraft ex-CFO for siphoning off ₹250 cr: All that happened

Gameskraft's former CFO Ramesh Prabhu allegedly siphoned more than ₹250 crore into personal F&O trades, forcing the firm to write off losses exceeding ₹270 crore and file an FIR

Gameskraft Technologies has accused its former chief financial officer (CFO), Ramesh Prabhu, of diverting hundreds of crores from company accounts to fund his personal stock market trades. The case has escalated into a criminal investigation, with a first information report (FIR) now filed.

The man at the centre of the scandal

Ramesh Prabhu, 47, is a chartered accountant who joined Gameskraft in 2018 as CFO. Before this, he co-founded Three Wheels United, a social enterprise providing financing for autorickshaw drivers. At Gameskraft, he was considered a trusted custodian of the firm’s finances until early 2025, when his sudden disappearance and confession email shocked colleagues.

 

What happened

Between financial year 2019-20 and 2024-25, Prabhu allegedly transferred around ₹231 crore from company accounts into a personal bank account under his sole control at RBL Bank. Instead of investing on behalf of the company, he used the money to trade in futures and options (F&O), a high-risk derivatives market.

 

To cover up the diversions, media reports indicate he produced fake mutual fund statements and falsified entries in the company’s books, passing off the money as legitimate investments. However, his trading bets backfired, resulting in estimated losses of over ₹250 crore.

How did it come to light?

On March 5, 2025, Prabhu sent a voluntary confession email to Gameskraft’s management, admitting that he had misused company funds. He claimed he had acted alone and that no other employees were involved.

 

The email prompted an internal fact-finding review, which confirmed that the company’s accounts had been manipulated. Prabhu has not returned to the office since March 1 and has remained untraceable.

What action has Gameskraft taken

Gameskraft filed a police complaint in Bengaluru, and on September 9, 2025, an FIR was registered at Marathahalli police station. The FIR lists multiple offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including theft, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and falsification of accounts.

 

In its FY25 financial statements, the company wrote off ₹270.43 crore as “exceptional items,” directly linked to the CFO’s actions.

 

How it affected Gameskraft’s business

The fraud came at a difficult time for the Bengaluru-based company. Despite reporting a 12 per cent rise in revenue in FY25 (₹3,896 crore, up from ₹3,475 crore in FY24), net profit fell by 25 per cent to ₹706 crore. The losses were driven not only by the fraud but also by a sharp increase in GST payments after the government imposed a 28 per cent tax on online gaming.

 

The fraud also came to light as the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, banned real-money gaming, forcing Gameskraft to suspend popular platforms such as RummyCulture, Gamezy, Pocket52, and Ludo Select. 

Image generated by AI

 

Why it matters

The scandal highlights gaps in corporate governance at a time when gaming companies are already under regulatory scrutiny. It also raises questions about internal checks at startups.

 

Meanwhile, the broader industry faces uncertainty as the Supreme Court weighs cases on GST notices worth Rs 2.5 trillion and challenges to state-level gaming bans.

The big picture

Founded in 2017 by Prithvi Raj Singh, Gameskraft rapidly grew in India’s online gaming sector, even organising record-breaking rummy tournaments. But now the company must navigate the fraud, along with tighter taxation and regulatory bans.