Madras High Court Issues Notice To Zoho Co-founder Sridhar Vembu On Estranged Wife’s Plea To Honour US Court Request

Chennai: The Madras High Court has sought a response from Zoho Corporation co-founder Sridhar Vembu on a petition filed by his estranged wife, Pramila Srinivasan, seeking judicial assistance to facilitate proceedings in a divorce case pending before a court in the United States.

Justice P Dhanabal has directed the High Court Registry to issue notice to Vembu, returnable by February 23.

The notice relates to three interconnected applications filed by Pramila requesting the High Court to honour a Letters Rogatory issued by the Superior Court of California, which is hearing the divorce dispute between the couple.

She said Vembu, who earlier resided in Pleasanton, California, is now living in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. Since several key witnesses in the case are based in India, the California court had, last October, ordered that their evidence be recorded on oath and relevant documents be collected through international judicial assistance.

Hence she sought the appointment of a senior advocate or a retired judge as a local commissioner to record the evidence of nine witnesses. These include Vembu, his relatives, and representatives of Zoho Corporation.

The litigant prayed that the local commissioner be granted special powers to summon witnesses, administer oath, and record their testimony in accordance with both the California Code of Civil Procedure and Indian law.

In another plea, Pramila urged the court to permit her legal counsel from the United States to examine and cross-examine the witnesses through video conferencing in the presence of the local commissioner.

The third application sought a direction for the local commissioner to forward the recorded testimony, documents, and other materials directly to the Superior Court of California in a sealed cover, as specified in the Letters Rogatory.

Letters Rogatory are formal requests exchanged between courts of different countries seeking assistance in recording evidence or performing other judicial acts.

Published on: Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 11:04 PM IST