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A high-profile legal battle has unfolded between tech entrepreneur Prasanna Sankar and his estranged wife, Dhivya, over the custody of their nine-year-old son. The case, which involves allegations of harassment, false accusations, and police extortion, has garnered widespread attention after Sankar took to social media to share his ordeal.
Sankar, a co-founder of the billion-dollar HR-tech startup Rippling, claimed in a series of posts on X that he was being unfairly pursued by Chennai police over a “kidnapping” complaint filed by his wife. He alleged that law enforcement officials were attempting to extort Rs 25 lakh from him to release his friend, Gokul, who was detained for allegedly assisting him in the custody dispute.
Allegations by Sankar
According to Sankar, his troubles began when he discovered that his wife was having an extramarital affair. The couple entered into divorce proceedings, during which they negotiated a settlement agreement. However, Sankar alleged that Dhivya was dissatisfied with the terms and subsequently filed false police complaints, accusing him of domestic violence, rape, and sharing her private videos. He claimed that Singapore police investigated these accusations and found them to be baseless.
Sankar further stated that Dhivya had “abducted” their son and taken him to the United States, forcing him to file an international child abduction case. A U.S. court ruled in his favor, leading to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that granted him joint custody of the child while requiring him to pay his wife Rs 9 crore and Rs 4.3 lakh per month.
Despite this agreement, Sankar alleged that Dhivya later refused to comply, particularly over the deposit of their son’s passport in a shared locker. This led to further legal disputes, with Sankar insisting that he would only share custody if the passport was secured. He claimed that Dhivya attempted to take their child away again, leading him to intervene.
“She showed up at my hotel at 10 PM and called my son to the lobby for 10 minutes, luring him. I stopped this, after which she called the police and filed a kidnapping complaint against me,” Sankar wrote on X.
He further claimed that fearing wrongful arrest, he fled with his son as the police arrived at his location.
Chennai Police’s Alleged Involvement
Sankar alleged that Chennai police were illegally tracking his movements by monitoring his phone location, car, UPI transactions, and IP address. He also accused the police of detaining his friend Gokul without an FIR and pressuring him to convince Sankar to surrender.
According to Sankar, the police searched his mother’s house and an Airbnb property he had stayed in. He also claimed that officers had threatened his friend into signing a statement declaring his social media posts false.
Sankar accused the police of demanding Rs 25 lakh in bribes to release Gokul. “The Thirumangalam police station is harassing me for money, knowing I’m a successful entrepreneur. The AC and SI asked me for Rs 25 lakh to release my friend,” he alleged in a post tagging the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Office and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Counterclaims by Dhivya
Dhivya has strongly refuted Sankar’s allegations. She claimed that Sankar had forcibly taken their child from her and never returned him. She also alleged that he stole their son’s passport and expressed fears that he might abduct the child again.
She accused Sankar of being a “sex predator,” claiming that he secretly recorded women and had been arrested in Singapore but later released. She further alleged that he transferred their matrimonial assets to his father’s name to evade taxes, and that his father then transferred them to his brother in Thailand. According to her, she was pressured into signing documents preventing her from reporting these alleged tax crimes in the U.S.
Dhivya also stated that Chennai police were merely helping her retrieve her son and that Sankar was twisting the narrative to escape accountability.
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