P Rajagopal dies in Chennai hospital: Founder of Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants faced life imprisonment

The owner of the Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants, P Rajagopal, died Thursday at a private hospital in Chennai, a week after he was sentenced to life in prison for 2001 kidnapping and murder of an employee. “Rajagopal, shifted to a private hospital in the city from the State-run Stanley Medical College Hospital following a court direction on Tuesday, died at around 10 am Thursday,” a source close to him told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_6352421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajagopal was admitted to a private hospital after his surrender. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Rajagopal was admitted to a private hospital after his surrender. Earlier, the 72-year-old Rajagopal had surrendered before a local court to serve life sentence in a murder case and had been shifted to Vijaya Hospital, after the Madras High Court passed an interim order on a petition filed by his son. Founder of the popular South Indian food chain Saravana Bhavan, Rajagopal had surrendered along with another accused earlier to serve life term after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking more time citing ill-health. While upholding the life sentence awarded to Rajagopal for murdering an employee in October 2001, the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender in the trial court on 7 July.

His appeal against the Madras High Court order upholding the trial court’s judgement convicting him was rejected by the apex court in March 2019. With inputs from PTI