Chennai: A bitter divorce and custody battle between the co-founder of multi-billion dollar HR software start-up Rippling Prasanna Sankar and his wife Dhivya Sashidhar, is playing out in full public glare. The tussle, made murkier by charges of rape, kidnapping and illegal transfer of wealth, appeared to have hit calmer waters after it crescendoed with Prasanna claiming Sunday that he was “on the run from the Chennai police”.
He then announced that the police assured him that no arrests would be made. “We have peace. Commissioner (of police) has assured there’d be no arrests. Will leave child custody to courts. Just wants to investigate if real kidnapping happened,” he wrote Monday in a post while thanking the police commissioner for “stepping in and resolving the crisis”.
In a thread he posted on X Tuesday, the tech entrepreneur requested his wife not to ‘abduct their nine-year-old son again’ and to honour the terms of a ‘memorandum of understanding (MoU)’ they signed which includes a condition that the son’s passport needs “be secured in a joint locker”.
Prasanna also responded to allegations levelled by his wife in a press conference outside a police station here earlier in the day.
My wife has given a press conf outside the police station as I was informed. Let's address her allegations and see what actually happened.
— Prasanna S (@myprasanna) March 25, 2025
Originally from Chennai and an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Trichy, Prasanna first moved to the US to start technology companies before he and Dhivya moved to Singapore.
He left Rippling in 2020 where he had also served as chief technology officer (CTO). According to his LinkedIn profile, since January 2023, he has been based in Singapore and founded OxPPL, a decentralised social network aimed at cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
ThePrint reached Prasanna for a comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Claims and counter-claims
Both Prasanna and Dhivya have shared their versions on social media platform X in recent days with allegations flying thick and fast.
They met at the National Institute of Technology and were married for about 10 years.
While Prasanna alleged infidelity by his wife as the reason for their separation, his estranged wife alleged sexual harassment by Prasanna.
Prasanna claims Dhivya filed a complaint against him when they were negotiating the terms of their divorce, including a financial settlement.
“She was unhappy and decided to file a fake police complaint against me saying I hit her. Later, she made further fake complaints that I raped her,” he claimed in his post on X. “Singapore police have investigated these allegations, found them baseless and have cleared me from all charges.”
My name is Prasanna, who previously founded Rippling (worth $10B); I'm going through a divorce. I'm now on the run from the Chennai police hiding outside of Tamil Nadu. This is my story.
— Prasanna S (@myprasanna) March 23, 2025
In the thread he posted Tuesday, Prasanna said Dhivya called him a “sex predator” and alleged that he “recorded porn videos of her and distributed them”. He said police in Singapore “cleared him of all these fake charges” and that Dhivya then levelled similar allegations against him in Washington in the United States where a judge ruled in his favour.
Dhivya also accused Prasanna of illegally transferring her wealth to his father in Chennai, claiming the move violated US and Indian tax laws. “I could not even go and seek justice with his parents since they are also hand-in-glove with him. His father, who has got my money illegally, transferred it to his brother,” she told ThePrint.
Prasanna responded to these claims in a post on X saying, “These are my Rippling shares – a co (sic) I co-founded and she had zero involvement in.”
Prasanna, in his series of posts on X, claimed that his estranged wife violated Singapore laws and negotiated to come to Chennai to settle down.
He said they signed an “MOU” under which he would pay her approximately Rs 9 crore and Rs 4.3 lakh a month. “As a part of the MOU, we agreed to 50/50 custody of our son, which happened for sometime.”
He alleged that his wife claimed the MOU was not valid and she wanted more money and she would go to the US again to file for divorce. “She abducted him (son) to the US for 5 mos (sic) to support her divorce case… And the judge ruled in favor of me and asked to return the child,” he said.
Dhivya, however, told ThePrint that there was no such MOU between the two. “All that I want now is my son. I don’t want to talk about the things that happened between us,” she said when asked about the allegations.
The ‘kidnapping’ chapter
On Monday, Prasanna said his friend Gokul, who was detained by Chennai police following a kidnapping complaint by Dhivya, had been released. “Gokul is back home and is no longer being taken to the station,” he wrote.
The statement came after his Saturday night allegation on X that police had been demanding Rs 25 lakh to release his friend. “The Thirumangalam, Chennai police station is harassing me for money knowing that I am a successful founder. The AC(Assistant Commissioner) and the SI(Sub-Inspector) have asked me Rs 25L to release my friend who has been in custody,” he posted on X, tagging CM M.K. Stalin and PM Modi.
A senior officer of the Greater Chennai police denied the allegation and said they were only following up on a complaint filed by Prasanna’s estranged wife. “Prasanna’s estranged wife Dhivya has filed a complaint with the Chennai police alleging that her nine-year-old son was forcibly kidnapped by Prasanna’s assistant Gokul from Chennai. We were just following up the complaint and there is no truth in his allegation,” the officer told ThePrint.
The police never filed an FIR in this case and were acting on a complaint.
Prasanna had claimed that his wife willingly handed over their child to his friend Gokul, only to later file a complaint claiming kidnapping.
“Wife handed over the child with full consent to my friend Gokul who took him down two floors to hand him over to me, the child’s father. My wife has since filed a false police complaint that my friend kidnapped my child and I might kill him,” Prasanna posted on X earlier. He also posted pictures and videos of him and his son captioned: “Son is safe and happy with me.”
Son is safe and happy with me. pic.twitter.com/UpvZKNBMju
— Prasanna S (@myprasanna) March 23, 2025
Dhivya had in a video statement earlier said her son should be rescued from Prasanna’s friend. “I request the police to rescue my child and hand him over to me. I am scared for my child’s life,” she alleged.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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