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‘No Infosys employee apprehended’: CEO Salil Parekh debunks viral claim of ICE detention in US

Speaking at the Q3 earnings conference, Salil Parekh clarified that while one Infosys employee was denied entry by the US a few months ago, no one was apprehended or deported.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jan 15, 2026 03:11 PM IST

It all began after X user Chetan Anantharamu shared a post on January 13 (Image source: Infosys)

Infosys CEO and managing director Salil Parekh denied claims circulating on social media that an employee of the IT services firm was apprehended or deported by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

His statement came a day after a post on X, alleging that an Infosys employee had been “picked up” by ICE officials in the United States, went viral.

Clarifying the news during Infosys’s Q3 earnings conference on January 14, Parekh said that while US authorities arrested no Infosys employee, one individual was denied entry into the country and sent back to India. “No Infosys employee has been apprehended by any US authority. A few months ago, one of our employees was denied entry into US and was sent back to India,” Parekh said.

It all began after X user Chetan Anantharamu shared a post on January 13, claiming he had learned of an Infosys employee from Mysuru who was working on-site in the US and was allegedly detained by ICE agents. According to the post, the employee was given two hours to pack his belongings and presented with an ultimatum: “he had two choices, he could either go to jail or fly back to India.”

The user further alleged that after opting to return, the employee “was escorted by agents & handed to airport authorities in the US to ensure he is aboard the flight to India via Frankfurt transit.”

See the viral post here:

Heard a wild wild story tdy of an Infy employee from Mysuru who was on-site for a project in US.
Was picked up by ICE agents, given 2 hours to pack up from his home, given 2 choices.
Either go to jail or get deported.
Once that chap chose to return back to India, was escorted by…

— Chetan Anantharamu (@gandabherunda) January 13, 2026

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The post also claimed the employee faced additional humiliation during his journey. “Once that chap chose to return back to India… an in-flight announcement was made warning ‘that he should not be allowed to escape once flight lands in Frankfurt,’” Anantharamu wrote.

He further claimed that the employee was again escorted during his transit in Germany. “Again in Frankfurt, was escorted till his seat for the flight back to Bangalore & again public announcement made that he should not get up from his seat till flight takes off,” the post added.