Chennai: A day after ‘Forbes’ published a report titled ‘In High Stakes Divorce Battle, Estranged Wife Of Indian Software Tycoon Claims He Transferred Ownership Without Telling Her’, Sridhar Vembu the Zoho CEO who is living in the rural Tenkasi district in south Tamil Nadu, opened up on their strained relationship and insisted he had not abandoned Pramila or their autistic son as claimed by her.
Taking to Twitter, in a long thread, Vembu, who has attracted criticism in Tamil Nadu for his right-wing leanings, shared his version of the relationship with his wife and son and also admitted “autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed.”
“With vicious personal attacks and slander on my character, it is time for me to respond. This is a deeply painful personal thread. My personal life, in contrast to my business life, has been a long tragedy,” he wrote.
Describing Pramila as a super mom who is passionate about curing their autistic son, Vembu said he had worked with her and to ensure his son’s safety even took some of his treatments so that he could know what they did to him. However, at one point he felt the treatments were not helping and that the son, now aged 24, could be better off in rural India. “She felt I was giving up. Our marriage collapsed under that stress,” he said while insisting she was making unfounded allegations in court and to the media.
“I will say this unequivocally: I never ever transferred my shares in the company to anyone else. I lived in the US for the first 24 years of our 27 year history and much of what constitutes the company was built in India. That is reflected in the ownership. It is complete fiction to say I financially abandoned Pramila and my son. They enjoy a far richer life than I do and I have supported them fully. My US salary for the last three years has been with her, and I gave our house to her. Her foundation also is supported by Zoho,” he said.
Vembu blamed his father’s younger brother Ram living in the US for “spreading malicious rumours about me and my siblings”. The Zoho chief said he had given shelter to his uncle who was terminally ill though the family itself had strained relations with him for a long.
“Sadly Pramila has chosen to trust my uncle Ram who still lives rent-free at our home, due to her own frustration that she feels I abandoned the fight on autism. All I can say is that if I am not serving the causes and people I serve now, my will to live would have left me,” he said.
“I have endured vicious personal attacks before and I will endure this one too. I will continue to build institutions and capabilities in rural India, my only remaining purpose in life. My prayer is that someday my beloved son will join me here,” he concluded.
