The Indian co-founder of a $10 billion HR company in San Francisco has claimed that his wife cheated on him with a married man and while they are in the process of getting a divorce, she has filed fake cases of rape and child kidnapping against him. Rippling's Prasanna Sankar, currently in India to file for the divorce, took to social media on Sunday to share the details and said he is on the run with his son as the Chennai Police has been trying to nab him following his wife's complaints.
The entrepreneur also shared screenshots of messages allegedly exchanged between his wife Dhivya Sashidhar and her lover Anoop Kuttysankaran. He said Anoop's wife had sent him the screenshots with the details of their private hotel bookings.
Born and brought up in Chennai, Prasanna met his wife while studying at NIT Trichy. They had been married for 10 years and have a nine-year-old son, Amar.
"Me and my wife, Dhivya, were married for 10 years and we have a 9-year-old son. Recently our marriage broke down after I discovered she was having an affair, with a person named Anoop for 6+ mos," he wrote on X. "Anoop's wife sent me the message my wife had sent Anoop and hotel bookings she made for him."
He added that while he filed for a divorce in India, Dhivya filed for a divorce in the US "to try and make more money" from it. Prasanna also alleged that she filed false cases of domestic violence and rape against him.
"After that we were negotiating the terms of how many million dollars I need to pay her, as a part of our divorce. She was unhappy and decided to instead file a fake police complaint against me saying I hit her. Later, she made further fake complaints that I raped her (1 mo after the alleged rape). That I circulated her nude videos. etc," he claimed, adding that the police have since cleared him from all charges after an investigation.
Prasanna also accused Dhivya of trying to kidnap their son and take him to the US. "She then proceeded to abduct my child to the US to help with her divorce case. I filed an international child abduction case in the US. And the judge ruled in favor of me and asked to return the child," he said.
The couple eventually came to an understanding where they decided to share custody of their son and settle in Chennai. They signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) according to which, Prasanna would pay her about Rs 9 crore and Rs 4.3 lakh per month as alimony and maintenance.
"As a part of the MOU, she had to deposit the child's passport in a common locker since I was worried she could fly away. She refused to follow it. She started claiming that the MOU is not valid and she wants more and will go to the US again to file a divorce," he said. The Rippling co-founder then moved to the courts again and stated that he would return the child only after the passport was deposited in the locker. In response, Dhivya allegedly showed up at Prasanna's hotel at 10 pm and tried to meet their son in the lobby which Prasanna did not allow.
"She then chose to call the police and filed a kidnapping complaint against me. The police knocked on the door in the middle of the night before which I was able to escape with my son," he said, adding that his lawyers immediately reached out to the police with his side of the story. Over a video call, he also tried to convince the police that the child was safe and happy with him. Moreover, he also tried to convey to them that since he and his wife were embroiled in a legal battle, the police should not intervene.
But the police continued to look for him. They allegedly landed up at his mother's house, picked up a friend for questioning, and even reached Prasanna's accommodation right after he fled. The incident forced his entire family to leave the state and go into hiding
"My cell phone location, car, UPI, IP everything is being tracked by the cops. Illegally without any FIR. They went and seized the phone of a caretaker I paid 200 Rs to via UPI and hit the Airbnb where I was staying. Luckily got out before," he said.
Prasanna said he intends to file a "don't harass" in court on Monday. Dhivya has not released a statement on this yet.
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