Weeks since Rippling co-founder Prasanna Sankar went public with his allegations that his wife was having an affair, his wife Dhivya Sashidhar has now filed grave charges against him. She says Prasanna had extramarital sex and forced her to agree to an open marriage.
According to The San Francisco Standard, Dhivya's claims are supported by court documents, emails, photos, and other records seen by the publication. Dhivya also provided a personal interview to the publication, recounting her experience.
Dhivya alleged in the report that Prasanna forced her into non-consensual sex, hired prostitutes, monitored her everyday life—video recording her in intimate areas like bathrooms—and controlling their country travel to protect his money from tax officials.
Prasanna had previously gone public on social media to announce that he and Dhivya have been married for ten years and have a nine-year-old son. He had also accused Dhivya of being in an affair with a man he called Anoop, posting screenshots of messages and reservations in hotels which he said substantiated his accusation. He also accused Chennai Police of filing false child abduction charges against him, which he called harassment.
The estranged couple is currently embroiled in a legal dispute over the custody of their son.
In her court affidavits, Dhivya alleged that Prasanna would demand sex even when she was in pain because of complications related to childbirth. She accused him of threatening her if she did not oblige his wishes.
"Prasanna would come and say to me, 'Look, sex is an instinctual requirement for me. You have to do it. It doesn't matter, like, you know, how much you hurt,'" Dhivya said.
She also alleged he said, "If you don't do it, then I want to go outside and get it," the report said.
In a December 2019 email, Prasanna confessed to reaching out to a few escort agencies, asking about their prices and pictures, before finally backing out. He emailed Dhivya, "I'm super sorry for the stress this put on our marriage. I promise to never put our marriage in this position again."
He also proposed the concept of an open marriage to her on the same day in another email.
When asked about the messages, Sankar replied through email to The Standard, explaining that the relationship had turned "sexless" then, and he had sought to understand the reason behind the same through a number of discussions. "I, in a fit of rage once, spoke of opening up the marriage to other sex partners," he explained. "We decided not to do so.
In 2020, Prasanna allegedly shifted the family to California, and Dhivya claims the relocation was done so his money is not taxed. She was, at the time, working for Microsoft remotely. Later, in defiance of her will, the family moved yet again—this time to Singapore—another move she alleges was to shield his fortune from being taxed.
Dhivya also testified in court papers that Prasanna would insist that she take days off work to have sex with him, and would threaten to look elsewhere for a partner if she did not comply.
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