Saravana Bhavan founder and murder convict P Rajagopal passes away

P Rajgopal

Chennai: Saravana Bhavan founder P Rajagopal, convicted in a murder case, died at a private hospital in Chennai on Thursday. Rajagopal, shifted to a private hospital in Chennai from the state-run Stanley Medical College Hospital following a court direction on Tuesday, died around 10 a.m Thursday, a source close to him said.

Earlier, 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.

P Rajagopal is the founder of the popular South Indian food chain Saravana Bhavan. He had surrendered along with another accused earlier to serve life term after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking more time on grounds of ill-health.

While upholding the life sentence awarded to Rajagopal for murdering an employee in October 2001 to marry his wife, the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender in the trial court on July 7.

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from PTI

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