Chennai, Mar 24 (PTI) A tech entrepreneur with Chennai roots and co-founder of a multi-billion dollar company, Prasanna Sankar, has alleged the Chennai police harassed him and that his wife filed a false complaint against him.
Though his estranged wife Divya denied the charge, the police 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 a statement here on Monday, the police said the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anna Nagar, will probe the allegation of corruption levelled against the Assistant Commissioner and a Sub Inspector, by Prasanna Shankar.
On March 9, Divya preferred a complaint with the Thirumangalam police that following her husband Prasanna Sankar's advice, Gokul Krishnan took away her son. 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, Prasanna 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.
Hence, a probe by the DCP was on to bring out the veracity of his claim. Also, to facilitate a proper investigation, Divya's case has been transferred to the CAWC, it said.
Earlier, a senior police official had denied the charge and said that there was no truth in the allegation. "Our team is probing a complaint by the woman. The allegations are baseless," he said.
Immediately after the co-founder of Rippling, Prasanna Sankar, embroiled in a legal battle with his estranged wife, 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, the woman told reporters that her son was taken away by her husband's manager Gokul on March 3.
"My son has not been returned to me. I want to know his whereabouts," she said.
But police claimed that Gokul was allowed to go home on March 23 afternoon.
According to a complaint by his estranged wife, both she and her nine-year-old son were US citizens, and they came to India three weeks ago.
"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," Prasanna's social media post read.
He claimed that his lawyer, against his advise, parted with Rs 2 lakh to the police to handle the situation.
Prasanna 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 (Prasanna's) whereabouts.