Hyderabad: Two arrested for impersonating USFDA officials to extort pharma giant Hetero

Cyberabad cyber crime police on Wednesday arrested two men for allegedly trying to extort a massive amount of money from Hetero Group by posing as officials of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The accused, identified as Gadi Manikanta and Yendapalli Jessy Sudarshan, reportedly sent a series of fake regulatory emails to the company, demanding $250 million (around ₹2,213 crore).

According to police, the duo created fake email IDs and drafted forged USFDA-style documents to make their threats believable. They claimed to have damaging internal information about Hetero and warned that they would forward it to the USFDA if the ransom was not paid. The emails also falsely suggested that they had influence over FDA decision-makers and could trigger regulatory action against the company.

A senior Cyberabad police officer said one of the suspects was a former employee who tried to tarnish the company’s image by sending misleading complaints to US authorities. Although the threats caused concern within Hetero and even led to an inspection at one of its facilities, the company refused to pay the ransom and instead approached the police.

Investigators tracked the accused through their devices, online activity and communication tools. Both men were arrested after their involvement in the extortion attempt was confirmed.

Cyber fraud crackdown

Along with solving the Hetero case, Cyberabad cyber crime police reported a sharp rise in enforcement action between November 12 and 18. During this week, officers detected 11 cyber crime cases and arrested 18 people across multiple states. Of those arrested, 15 were involved in trading-related scams.

Police also seized 17 mobile phones and four SIM cards used for criminal activities.

In a major relief to victims, Cyberabad police obtained 200 refund orders from courts in 53 cases, enabling the return of ₹63,23,971 to affected individuals. Officials said faster coordination between different units is helping them recover more defrauded money and strengthen action against cyber fraud networks.