CHENNAI: From a "Dosa king" to a murder convict, P Rajagopal, the owner of Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants, held fame as well as infamy as he passed away after a multiple organ failure at the age of 73, a week after he surrendered to serve a life sentence for the 2001 kidnapping and murder of an employee.
Born in a village in Tuticorin district, Rajagopal, with hardly any formal education, led his chain of vegetarian restaurants ‘Saravana Bhavan’, the first of which was started in 1981, to set up shop in 15 countries.
Selvaraj, who has been a hotel staff right from its inception remembers ‘Annachi’s’ gestures over the years- monetary assistance for school fees and childbirth and sometimes, also personally visiting houses of the staff on their birthdays.
“In the 1980s Rajagopal used to own a small provision store in Vadapalani over which a brahmin man ran a mess. When the Brahmin tried to sell it off, P Rajagopal took over the business since his wife was known to be an excellent cook. That was how it began,” said Nagarajan, a longtime resident of KK Nagar.
However, the fate of Rajagopal, who was already married twice, changed after he attempted to pursue the daughter of an assistant manager at Saravana Bhavan's Chennai branch on the advice of his astrologer. The young woman Jeevajyothi, then in her twenties, rejected him before marrying Santhakumar in 1999. Rajagopal allegedly threatened the couple in 2001 and demanded they end the marriage. He later allegedly murdered Santhakumar.
From the archives: Rise and fall of Saravana Bhavan founder P Rajagopal
S Sundaresan, a resident of Punnai Nagar, in Tirunelveli district says that Annachi will be remembered for his good deeds.
“He constructed a huge temple called the Vana Tirupathi that carry similar poojas like Tirupathi temple and round the clock ‘annadhanam’,” he said.
In 2004, the hotelier was found guilty by a Sessions court and sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The order was challenged by Rajagopal in Madras High court which in 2009, set aside the sessions court’s punishment, pointing out that a conviction under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC justified life imprisonment.
Rajagopal had been granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2009. However, it was the Supreme Court during its judgement in March upheld the life sentence awarded to Rajagopal for the 2001 murder of Prince Santhakumar.
The 73-year-old hotelier was admitted to a private hospital just before he was asked to surrender. After the Supreme Court bench dismissed his plea seeking more time on medical grounds to surrender, saying his illness was not raised before the court during the hearing of the appeal in the case, he was brought to the premises of the fourth Additional Sessions Court in an ambulance on July 9.