Saravana Bhavan founder, sentenced for life, dies in Chennai hospital

Chennai: Founder of popular South Indian food chain 'Saravana Bhavan', P Rajagopal (72), who had been sentenced to life for murdering his employee's son-in-law in a bid to marry his daughter, died at a hospital in Chennai on Thursday, a week after surrendering before court.

Rajagopal had surrendered along with another accused to serve life term after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking more time on grounds of ill-health.

Last week, he was brought to the premises of the Fourth Additional Sessions Court in an ambulance. He appeared in the Chennai court in a stretcher with an oxygen mask affixed.

Passing an interim order on a petition filed by Rajagopal's son, the Madras High Court had directed the state government and the prison authorities to transfer the hotelier from the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital to a private hospital in Chennai for further treatment..

Rajagopal was to surrender on July 7 to serve life imprisonment for commissioning the murder of Prince Santhakumar, the husband of his employee's daughter Jeevajyothi in October 2001 for marrying her. Jyothi's 15-year-old legal battle succeeded in convicting him.

In 2004, Rajagopal was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. The sentence was raised to life sentence considering an appeal submitted against the sentence in High Court.

In May 2009, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Rajagopal after he claimed that he had paralysis and needed medical treatment. He had served only 11 months of his jail term.

His appeal against the Madras High Court order upholding the trial court's judgement convicting him was rejected by the apex court in March this year.

The case

In the 1990s, Rajagopal, who had two wives, was interested in marrying Jeevajyothi. Her father used to work at a Saravana Bhavan outlet.

Jeevajyothi however married Shanthakumar in 1999. Rajagopal allegedly used to harass the couple to break off the marriage. Reports also suggested that Rajagopal's interest in Jeevajyothi was based on an astrologer's advice.

In 2001, the couple filed a police complaint that Rajagopal is harassing and intimidating them. Soon after the complaint, Shanthakumar was abducted from Chennai and taken to Kodaikanal.

He was later found dead in the Tiger Chola forests.

Though Rajagopal surrendered in a month after the murder, he was granted bail the next year and was also accused of trying to bribe Jeevajyothi and intimidating her family.

(With inputs from PTI)