The Madras High court asked the police to not harass a tech entrepreneur from Chennai in connection with a complaint filed by his estranged wife regarding an alleged matrimonial dispute.
Rippling co-founder Prasanna Sankar has alleged the Chennai police harassed him and that his wife filed a false complaint against him. In his petition before the court, he alleged that the police were conducting an inquiry into his whereabouts and visiting his mother’s house, apart from illegally arresting his friend. He further said that the police raided his vacation home in Chennai and seized the caretaker’s phone and CCTV cameras at the property.
Sankar argued that the police had been issuing repeated summons, making intrusive inquiries, and threatening him with coercive action based on his wife Divya’s false complaint, LiveLaw reported.
Earlier, Sankar took to social media alleging that an ACP and a SI demanded Rs 25 lakh from him to release his friend in their alleged custody.
On March 9, Divya preferred a complaint with the Thirumangalam police that following Sankar’s advice, his manager Gokul Krishnan took away her son on March 3. But her son was not sent back to her after two days, as agreed upon earlier, she had stated in the complaint, police said.
A CSR was registered and even as the initial inquiry was on, Sankar made an allegation on his social media site that the ACP and SI demanded money to sort out the wrangle between him and his wife, the release said. The police later said the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anna Nagar, will probe the allegation of corruption levelled against the Assistant Commissioner and a Sub Inspector, by Sankar.
The police had on Monday transferred the case seeking the custody of her son, to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Against Women and Children (CAWC) wing, Chennai for a thorough probe. In her complaint, Divya claimed that she and her nine-year-old son were US citizens, and they came to India three weeks ago.
Sankar shared a video with his son, claiming the boy was happy with him and also that the Chennai police had illegally detained his friend and were forcing him to share the details of his (Sankar’s) whereabouts. “My wife and I have been going through a divorce and have been sharing custody of our son. My wife handed over the child with full consent to my friend (Gokul), who brought him two floors down to hand him over to me. However, my wife later filed a false complaint that my friend kidnapped my son and that I might kill him,” his social media post read.
Sankar and Divya for married in September 2012 and had a son in 2016. He told the court that their marriage suffered due to emotional cruelty and adultery by his wife, after which a divorce petition was filed in the Chennai Family Court.
