Some parts of living in India don’t change, even if you’re the founder of a successful tech company.
Rippling co-founder Prasanna S has alleged that the Chennai Police has been trying to extort money from him for money in his divorce case. “The Thirumangalam, Chennai police station is harassing me for money knowing that I’m a successful founder. The AC and the SI have asked me for 25 lakhs to release my friend who has been in custody,” he posted on X.
“My wife and I have been going through a divorce and have been sharing custody of our son. Wife handed over the child with full consent to my friend Gokul who took him down two floors to hand him over to me – the child’s father. My wife has since filed a false police complaint that my friend kidnapped my child and I might kill him. And that I’m a very successful founder who can be extorted for money,” he said.
He alleges that he’s had to bribe the cops in this matter. “The police head then asked my lawyer (Prem Anand) for money, which he apparently arranged against my advice. My lawyer said he paid the cops 2 lakhs to take care of the situation,” he said. “And that once the cops became aware that I’m wealthy they wanted a lot more. Most recent demand is for 25 lakhs; they went across state lines, to Bangalore Karnataka to arrest my friend, without following any police protocols of informing Bengaluru Police,” he added.
“I hope @Udhaystalin can step in. I’m the founder of a $10B company, born in Chennai. Chose to come back home after our divorce. And Chennai police have made me and my family on the run. My dad, brother are in a different state now. I’m also on the run from these brutal cops,” Prasanna posted.
Prasanna had co-founded Rippling with Parker Conrad in 2016. Rippling, headquartered in San Francisco, is a workforce management platform that integrates HR, IT, and finance functions into a unified system, designed to streamline business operations and automate administrative tasks. Prasanna had graduated with a degree from NIT Trichy, and has worked with companies including Microsoft and Zenefits before co-founding Rippling. Rippling was last valued at $13.5 billion.