The personal lives and emotional struggles of Indian billionaire tech entrepreneur Prasanna Sankar and his wife Dhivya Sashidhar made headlines two weeks ago. The entrepreneur fought a bitter divorce and custody battle, during which Dhivya publicly called him a sexual pervert and a liar. Although she didn’t reveal much at the time, Dhivya has now come forward again to openly expose his behavior. She stated that her husband engaged with sex workers and pressured her into accepting an open marriage.
Prasanna Sankar, co-founder of Rippling and estimated to be worth $1.3 billion by Forbes, recently made headlines after sharing a post on X (formerly Twitter). He claimed he was “on the run” from Chennai police after his wife, Dhivya Sashidhar, filed a complaint accusing him of kidnapping their son. Sankar alleged that law enforcement was illegally tracking his phone location, car, UPI transactions, and IP address without even registering a formal case (FIR). He further claimed that Dhivya had an extramarital affair, while he was trying to gain custody of their son.
However, his wife has Divya claimed that her husband lost his job in the US after being arrested in San Francisco for soliciting prostitution. Additionally, She accused him of being a “sexual pervert”. She said that Prasanna used to secretly filme his assaults on women and alleged that she had also been a victim of his abuse. A US citizen, Sashidar has now sought help from the Chennai police, alleging that her husband kidnapped their son.
‘Worst Nightmare Of My Life’
Dhivya Sashidhar spoke about how her husband tried to control her and called it the “worst nightmare” of her life.
She told The San Francisco Standard that in 2016, soon after she gave birth, Prasanna Sankar forced her into painful sex, saying it was a natural need for men. When she refused, he threatened her with consequences.
“Prasanna would come and tell me, ‘Look, sex is a primal need for me. You have to do it. It doesn’t matter, like, you know, how much pain you’re in,” Sashidhar revealed.
“He would literally, like, tell me that, you know, ‘If you don’t do it, then I want to go outside and get it,” she added.
According to the report, in an email sent to Dhivya Sashidhar in December 2019, Prasanna Sankar admitted that he had contacted several escorts.
He said he had asked them for their photos and prices but then changed his mind and didn’t go through with it. “I’m super sorry for the stress this put on our marriage. I promise to never put our marriage in this position again,” he wrote as per the report. In another email the same day, Sankar proposed an open marriage, Which means opening their marriage to other partners. Sashidhar said that Prasanna Sankar shuttled her and their 9-year-old son from one country to another in a bid to evade taxes.
According to the publication, Sankar, in an email to The San Francisco Standard, said his marriage was “sexless” at the time he proposed open marriage, and that he “had several conversations with her to understand why this was the case.” “I once in a moment of anger discussed about opening up the marriage to other sexual partners,” he wrote. “We agreed not to do it.”
The Story
Prasanna Sankar and Dhivya Sashidhar met in 2007 and started dating in 2009. Both were very smart and successful. They had a long-distance relationship for years—Sankar was in Silicon Valley working on a social media app for anonymous flirting (which later failed), while Sashidhar was studying at the University of Cambridge. They met again in 2013 when Sashidhar was working in the Netherlands for Shell. Even though her family had doubts, they decided to get married after Sankar proposed in a grand way, going down on one knee.
In 2015, Sankar moved back to San Francisco and worked as director of engineering at a healthcare startup. But in 2017, he quit after an investigation found the company had misled investors. That same year, he co-founded Rippling, a company that helps businesses manage HR, devices, and finances all in one place. By 2022, Forbes listed him as a billionaire. He owns 9% of Rippling’s shares.
