Telangana police arrest two in $250 million cyber-extortion case linked to Hetero Drugs

hetero

Cyberabad Police of Telangana on Wednesday said they arrested two individuals accused of running a sophisticated cyber-extortion scheme against Hyderabad-based Hetero Group of Companies, one of India’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers. The suspects allegedly demanded $250 million, threatening to leak fabricated compliance violations to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The accused, identified as Gadi Manikanta and Yendapalli Jessy Sudarshan, allegedly impersonated USFDA officials using fake email IDs and encrypted messaging apps, including Signal, to pressure Hetero, a release issued by Cyberabad police said.

Investigators said the duo sent pseudonymous emails claiming to possess “damaging” regulatory information and warned of imminent USFDA action unless the ransom was paid.

The threats escalated when the perpetrators asserted they could “manage” the USFDA, creating a sense of regulatory jeopardy.

Their actions triggered an actual USFDA inspection at Hetero’s facility. That inspection, completed recently, resulted in the site being classified as Official Action Indicated (OAI)—a serious compliance status that typically signals unresolved regulatory concerns and can delay product approvals.

Police said the extortion attempt posed “serious reputational and regulatory risk” to the company, which formally complained after determining the allegations were baseless.

A Linkedln searches found that Yendapalli Jessy Sudarshan is an employee of Hetero and Gadi Manikanta is a pharmacy graduate.

"As it is under sub-judice we would wait for appropriate time to comment on this," Hetero said in a statement.

Cyberabad Police urged corporates to verify all regulatory communications through official channels and report extortion attempts immediately to the cyber crime police. “Do not respond to threatening emails or share confidential data over unknown platforms,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cybercrimes) B. Sai Sri, adding that companies should enable multi-factor authentication and conduct regular cybersecurity audits.

USFDA has conducted inspection from September 19-26 2025 the company's Nakkapalli active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. The inspection resulted in six observations under Form 483. The company said it is in the process of submitting its response, supported by external consultants. The facility primarily manufactures antiretroviral (ARV) and other APIs.

According to India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) significant sales generated from the facility were made to the India market and only marginal sales contribution to the US.

"The six observations made by the USFDA are primarily categorised into the use of an unregistered testing laboratory, quality control lapses and documentation gaps. While the observations look serious due to data integrity," the report said.