In a dramatic escalation of a cross-border marital dispute, Rippling co-founder Prasanna Sankaranarayanan has approached the Madras High Court, alleging that Tamil Nadu police are acting as enforcers in a personal vendetta orchestrated by his estranged wife, Dhivya Sashidhar. The tech entrepreneur claims he’s been targeted with relentless harassment—midnight visits, threats, and even the alleged illegal detention of a friend—all under the guise of a fabricated kidnapping complaint.
Sankaranarayanan’s online thread detailing the ordeal exploded on X (formerly Twitter), where he accused his wife of manipulating the legal system in a bid to abduct their son and leave the country. He insists this is only the latest in a series of false cases filed against him—first in the US and Singapore, now brought to Indian soil.
According to his petition, the turning point came after both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in February. The agreement promised mutual divorce, joint custody, and shared access to the child’s travel documents. The family was to reside in Chennai, and the child—according to Sankaranarayanan—was voluntarily handed over to him on March 3. What followed, he alleges, was betrayal: a kidnapping complaint, raids on friends and family, and a refusal by his wife to uphold her end of the MoU.
Most chilling, perhaps, is his claim that his friend Gokul S was picked up from Bengaluru and held at a police station for three days without any FIR. The message, he says, was clear: surrender yourself and your child, or your friend doesn’t walk free.
The High Court has since intervened, instructing the police to refrain from harassing the tech co-founder, but the drama appears far from over. His wife, for her part, has pushed back. According to her version, the MoU was signed under duress, and her son was forcibly taken by Sankaranarayanan’s friend. She claims she was brought to India against her will, under the pretense of a property dispute.
At the heart of the matter lies a tangled knot of personal grievance, legal ambiguities, and a child caught in the crossfire. While courts deliberate and tempers flare, one thing is certain—this isn’t just a custody case. It’s a high-stakes tech-world clash playing out in courtrooms instead of boardrooms.