Hyderabad: Zoho CEO and co-founder Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday took to Twitter to elaboratively refute the allegations made against him by his wife of abandoning her and their autistic child, and of transferring shares to his relatives without consulting with her.
Quoting the disclosure as a 'deeply personal painful' episode, Vembu said he is responding to the 'vicious personal attacks and slander on his character'. "My wife Pramila and I were in this fight against autism for over 15 years. She is a super mom and her passionate cause is curing our son of autism. I worked hard along with her," one of the tweets in the long thread read.
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1/ With vicious personal attacks and slander on my character, it is time for me to respond.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) March 14, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
This is a deeply painful personal thread. My personal life, in contrast to my business life, has been a long tragedy. Autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed.
">1/ With vicious personal attacks and slander on my character, it is time for me to respond.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) March 14, 2023
This is a deeply painful personal thread. My personal life, in contrast to my business life, has been a long tragedy. Autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed.1/ With vicious personal attacks and slander on my character, it is time for me to respond.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) March 14, 2023
This is a deeply painful personal thread. My personal life, in contrast to my business life, has been a long tragedy. Autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed.
"As our son got older (24 today) I felt the endless treatments he was under were not helping much and he would be better off in rural India, closer to loving people and helping to lift up people. She felt I was giving up. Our marriage collapsed under that stress," he wrote, further stating that his wife is making 'unfounded allegations' about his ownership interest in Zoho Corp.
Vembu's wife Pramila Srinivasan had filed a case against him in a California court in January, claiming that her husband had 'abandoned' her and their son with special needs in the US in 2020. She further alleged that he also transferred some Zoho shares that the couple owned "without ever telling me or asking my permission."
"I will say this unequivocally: I never ever transferred my shares in the company to anyone else," the CEO wrote, adding that it is 'complete fiction' that he financially abandoned his wife and specially-abled son. "They enjoy a far richer life than I do and I have supported them fully. My US salary for the last 3 years has been with her, and I gave our house to her. Her foundation also is supported by Zoho," Vembu added.
Further introducing a new character to the story, Vembu claimed his uncle Ram is the main culprit who's manipulating his wife into believing that he financially duped her. "All of this mess was caused by my uncle Ram (my father’s younger brother) living in the US, who I gave shelter to due to his terminal cancer," Vembu wrote further in the Twitter thread.
"We have lived this tragic personal life. Now due to my uncle Ram’s falsehoods, the tragedy has added a messy legal dimension. I have always supported Pramila and my son and will continue to support them as long I live. I am confident truth and justice will prevail," the CEO further wrote, finishing the post off by stating his intention 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. Please pray for us," Vembu added.
