P Rajagopal, (73), owner of Saravana Bhavan Group of restaurants, breathed his last on Thursday morning at a Chennai hospital where he was undergoing treatment for a series of ailments. The restaurateur, an accused in the murder case of a woman whom he wanted to possess as his third wife, was serving life-term in Chennai’s Puzhal Prison since early this month following the Supreme Court’s refusal to quash the Madras High Court order sentencing him and others to life for the murder committed by them in 2001.
A Chennai court had witnessed many dramatic scenes as the apex court refused Rajagopal’s plea to extend his bail to avail medical care in a private hospital in the city. He was brought to the court in an ambulance and was fitted with oxygen masks and a series of tubes to his nostrils and all over the body. The judge refused to entertain Rajagopal’s plea and sent him to jail with a directive to the authorities that medical aid be made available to him in the event of any emergency.
Later the Madras High Court, hearing a petition moved by the son of Rajagopal, asked the prison authorities to admit him to Government Stanley Medical College from where he was taken to a corporate hospital as his condition worsened.
The charge against Rajagopal and others was that they murdered Prince Santhakumar, one of the employees of the Saravana Bhavan eateries, because the latter refused to leave his wife Jeeva Jyothi whom Rajagopal wanted to take as his third wife.
It was reported that Rajagopal had been advised by his astrologers to marry Jyothi as she would bring him prosperity and eternal bliss. Jyothi was against the marriage as the hotelier was old enough to be her “grandfather”. Her father who himself was an employee of Rajagopal married her off to save her from the prowling eyes of his employer.
Though Rajagopal tried all the games in his armoury to persuade Santhakumar to leave Jyothi, the former’s cajoling and threats did not succeed. The restauranter hired professional killers and they kidnapped and murdered Santhakumar. But the Tamil Nadu Police cracked the case and arrested the culprits.
The trial court sentenced Rajagopal and others to five years rigorous imprisonment which was challenged by the accused in the Madras High Court. The MHC increased the quantum of punishment to life term. Though the accused approached the Supreme Court, Rajagopal’s luck ran out early this year as the apex court upheld the MHC verdict.
Rajagopal’s growth in hotel chain business reads like folklore. Starting as a casual labourer, this maverick Nadar from Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district had a meteoric rise in life. The Saravana Bhavan Group played a big role in popularising Chennaites’ ‘eating out habit’. The restaurant chain is known for the delicious idli, dosa, sambar and vada served by them. International TV channels focusing on travel and tourism had featured Rajagopal’s restaurant chain, spread across Asia, USA, Europe and Australia, many times in their prime time programmes.
But Rajagopal’s passion for emulating the Dravidian politicians who considered it a matter of honour and valour to possess multiple wives turned out to be his nemesis.
