P. Rajagopal (5 August 1947 – 18 July 2019) was the founder of the Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants based in Chennai, India. Born in rural Tamil Nadu into a farming family, and with little education, Rajagopal built a global restaurant chain. In later life, he was convicted for a 2001 murder, and began serving a life sentence in July 2019. Several days after his imprisonment, he had a heart attack and died.

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Crime
• 3 Life sentence for murder
  • 3.1 Supreme Court upholding
• 4 Death
• 5 References

Career

Rajagopal was born in Punnaiyadi, a tiny village in Tuticorin District, Tamil Nadu, India. His father was an onion seller; his mother was a homemaker. In 1973, a few years after he came to Madras, he started a general provisions store in K K Nagar. In 1981, he opened his first restaurant, Saravana Bhavan, in Madras. By 2019, his company had expanded to 111 restaurants in 22 countries, employing about 5,000 people. He built a temple in his village called Punnai Sri Srinivasaperumal Kovil.

Crime

On the advice of an astrologer, he obsessively tried to take Jeevajothi, the daughter of one of his employees, as his third wife, but she was already married and rejected him. He orchestrated multiple threats, beatings, and exorcism against her and her family. In 2001, after one attempted murder, he successfully orchestrated the murder of her husband Santha*ar. He was sentenced to life for the murder.

Life sentence for murder

In 2009, the brand value of the restaurant chain plunged after the founder Rajagopal was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Madras High Court after being convicted of the murder of employee Prince Santha*ar in 2001 and sexual har*ment of Santha*ar's wife Jeevajothi. Jeevajothi was the daughter of one of his *istant managers. Rajagopal wanted to marry Jeevajothi, but she was already married to Santha*ar. Santha*ar was kidnapped and his body was found strangled a few days later in a resort town in the Western Ghats mountain range. Rajagopal was freed on bail for medical reasons while his case was appealed to the Indian Supreme Court. However, a judgement was p*ed enhancing his prison term to a life sentence, upholding a lower court's conviction.

Supreme Court upholding

On 29 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India upheld Rajagopal's murder conviction and life imprisonment. As per the order of the Supreme Court, he would have to surrender to the authorities by 7 July 2019 and would have to spend the rest of his days in prison. Rajagopal surrendered to the authorities on 9 July 2019. Although his counsel pleaded for an extension of bail on medical grounds, the plea was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ordered the ty* to "surrender immediately". Rajagopal also sought exemption from surrendering and pleaded that his hospitalisation time be treated as time spent behind bars. The court rejected this.

Death

After surrendering on 9 July 2019 to serve his life sentence, Rajagopal had a heart attack on 13 July 2019. The Madras High Court granted permission to transfer him from the prison ward of Stanley Medical College Hospital to Vijaya Hospital in Chennai, where he died on the morning of 18 July 2019.

References