Rippling Co-Founder Moves Madras HC Alleging Police Harassment Amid Escalating Feud With Wife

Prasanna claimed that the Tamil Nadu police have been continuously harassing him and trying to take his son away from him following a false kidnapping complaint by his estranged wife. Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan has directed the police not to harass Prasanna.

ALSO READ: Rippling Co-Founder’s New Point-By-Point Rebuttal As Domestic Battle Escalates: ‘Let’s Address Wife’s Charges’

Prasanna’s Allegations Against Police

According to his plea, the police tried to enter Prasanna’s hotel room on March 7 to take away the child, although he had left the hotel room some time earlier, thus inadvertently foiling the police’s attempt. The Rippling co-founder also said the police visited his mother and his friend Gokul S between March 12 and March 21 in an attempt to trace him and possibly take his son.

Prasanna claimed that his son is well and happy with him, but the police have made several inquiries about his whereabouts and even arrested his friend. Gokul S was kept in the police station for three days despite no complaint registered against him.

He said the police said they would release Gokul only when Prasanna came to the police station with his son. He blamed the police action on a “false" and “malicious" complaint by his wife. Prasanna said his wife had filed similarly baseless complaints in the US and Singapore and was resorting to similar tactics in India.

ALSO READ: ‘Voluntary Handover’: Rippling Co-Founder Prasanna Dismisses Wife’s Claim On Child’s Custody, Shares ‘Evidence’

Feud Between Prasanna And His Wife

Prasanna Sankar, an NIT Trichy graduate, shared that he was married to his wife, Dhivya, for ten years and they have a nine-year-old son. The Chennai-based coder moved to the US to start his own tech company, only to recently discover his wife’s affair. He alleged that the man she was involved with sent him text messages and images of hotel bookings made by Dhivya as evidence of their relationship.

Things took a turn for the worse after Prasanna filed for divorce in India, while his wife filed in the US. The Chennai techie further claimed that his wife “abducted" their son and took him to the US, forcing him to file an international child abduction case.

Prasanna claimed that the US court ruled in his favour, following which he filed an MoU with his wife. According to the agreement, he had to pay his wife around Rs 9 crore and Rs 4.3 lakh per month and share joint custody of their son. His estranged wife came to Chennai with the child after the MoU and the child was handed over to him voluntarily on March 3.

After that, Prasanna said his wife filed a false complaint and violated the MoU by refusing to deposit their child’s travel documents in a joint locker. He also said she had been refusing to appear before a Chennai court where their divorce case is pending and is using extrajudicial tactics to gain leverage in the child custody battle.

His wife has made counter-allegations, accusing Prasanna of kidnapping the child and forcing her to sign the MoU. Dhivya, in her complaint, claimed that she and her son are citizens of the US, and had returned to India earlier this month. Dhivya claimed that during her stay in India, Sankar took their son away from her.

Dhivya reportedly called the businessman a “sex predator", claiming that he used to “secretly record women", for which he was arrested in Singapore and later released. Publications quoted her as saying that Sankar’s father transferred these assets to his brother in Thailand.