After a Forbes report accused the Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu of divesting a chunk of his shares in the company and placing it with his sister and her husband without informing his wife, Vembu on Tuesday said that he never transferred the shares in the company to anyone else. Vembu and his wife Pramila Srinivasan were living in California, the US, for nearly 25 years with their son, before he alone moved to India in 2020. He was appointed to the National Security Advisory Board in 2021. In August 2021, he filed for a divorce in California. Responding to “vicious personal attacks and slander” on his character, Vembu in a Twitter thread said his personal life has been “a long tragedy” unlike his business life, adding he and his wife were in the fight against autism for over 15 years and went under lot of stress to treat their son. 1/ 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. Autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed. — Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) March 14, 2023 Vembu said his wife made unfounded allegations in court regarding Zoho Corp ownership. “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,” he wrote. He said his US salary for the last 3 years has been with his wife and that he gave his house also to her, besides Zoho supporting her foundation. He said his uncle is responsible for creating the problems. "We have lived this tragic personal life. Now due to my uncle Ram’s falsehoods, the tragedy has added a messy legal dimension," he added. "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," he added.
