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SC upholds life sentence to Sarvana Bhavan owner P Rajagopal in 2001 murder case

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SC upholds life sentence to Sarvana Bhavan owner P Rajagopal in 2001 murder case

Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction and life imprisonment awarded to the owner of Saravana Bhavan restaurant chain, P Rajagopal in 2001 murder case. Rajagopal along with five others had been accused of murdering one of his employees in order to marry the employee’s wife.

Justice NV Ramana who presided the bench, announced the verdict against the accused Rajagopal.

In the 1990s, Rajagopal, under the advice of an astrologer who predicted a lifetime of riches, madly wooed Jeevajothi, daughter of a Saravana Bhavan employee. The hotel chain owner wanted Jeevajothi, barely 20 then, to become his third wife. But when he failed in his advances, he plotted the murder of the man she eventually married, Prince Santhakumar, a maths teacher.

Over the years, he tried to wean Jeevajothi from her husband but when that failed too, the hotelier directed his eight henchmen to abduct and murder Santhakumar in October 2001. Santhakumar’s body was found in Kodaikanal.

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The five accused were convicted by the Sessions Court for murder and had been sentenced to ten years imprisonment. On March 19, 2009, the Madras High Court enhanced the 10 year sentence imposed by the session court on Rajgopal and five others to life imprisonment on the ground that their offence fell under Section 302 IPC(murder) and not 304 Part-1 8 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

Then in May 2009, the Supreme Court had granted bail to the convicts. A bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi said the accused shall be released on bail till the disposal of the criminal appeal in view of his medical condition.

The apex court granted the bail after senior counsel Sushil Kumar pleaded that Rajagopal be granted bail as he was suffering from paralysis and needed medical treatment.

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