Allegations against me are complete fiction: Zoho CEO

Software firm Zoho Corporation’s CEO Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday termed as “slander” and “complete fiction” allegations levelled by his estranged wife that he abandoned her and their special needs son in the US to return to Tamil Nadu and transferred his shares to his other family members to prevent the mother-son duo for “receiving their fair share.”

In a long thread posted on his verified Twitter page, Vembu responded to an article published in Forbes magazine on his divorce from his wife Pramila Srinivasan in the US. In the long-format story, Srinivasan alleged that Vembu left her and their 24-year-old autistic son in the US in 2020 and settled in Tenkasi in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. She also accused Vembu of transferring shares that they owned in Zoho Corporation "without ever telling me or asking my permission."

Vembu, in his response said, his personal life in contrast to his business life has been a “long tragedy” and that Autism destroyed their lives and left him “suicidally depressed.” The top executive, who now runs the software conglomerate from a remote village, added that he and his wife were in this fight against autism for over 15 years, while terming her a “super mom” and that her passionate cause is curing their son of autism.

“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,” Vembu said, adding that the end of their marriage has brought a new conflict.

Accusing his wife of making “unfounded allegations” in court about his ownership interest in Zoho Corporation, Vembu said all his filings in the US court are public and it was “complete fiction” to say that he had financially abandoned his wife and their son.

“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,” Vembu said. He also added his US salary for the last three years has been with his wife, and that she now has the house they owned.

The current “mess” is caused by his paternal uncle Ram, Vembu alleged and went to say that he was taking out his own long running frustrations with his father by spreading malicious rumours about him and his siblings.

“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,” Vembu said, giving ample hints that he would continue to function from the remote Tamil Nadu village.

He also said his uncle’s “falsehoods” have added a “messy legal dimension” to their “tragic personal life” and that he will continue to support his wife and their son “as long as I live.”

“I am confident truth and justice will prevail. 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,” Vembu added.