Saravana Bhavan founder P Rajagopal's unsavoury journey may end in jail

SC upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of P Rajagopal, 18 years after the kidnapping and murder of a man in Tamil Nadu

Who: For its vast and loyal clientele across restaurants in India and several other countries, the mouth-watering masala dosai at Saravana Bhavan has often been described as worth dying for. The vegetarian restaurant chain, one of the largest in the world, is in the news again because of a murder case — with all the ingredients of a classic Tamil masala film — involving its founder whose unsavoury journey may well end in jail.

What: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of P Rajagopal, 18 years after the kidnapping and murder of a man in Tamil Nadu. Rajagopal, who has a net worth upwards of $1 billion, was convicted in 2009 by the Madras High Court after he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a local court. The apex court, which had granted him bail on health grounds in 2009, has now given him time on medical grounds till July 7 to surrender. As the news broke, tweets followed with links of media reports and stories capturing the sordid saga. A user quipped, “Next time you go to Saravana Bhavan, remember the ‘gun powder’ with the dosai means something!”

Where: The case dates back to 2001, when Prince Santhakumar, an employee of the Chennai-based Saravana Bhavan, was murdered by eight men. According to the prosecution, Rajagopal plotted the murder as he wanted to marry Santhakumar’s wife, Jeeva Jyothi. She is the daughter of Ramaswamy, who was an employee of Saravana Bhavan. Rajagopal wanted to marry her but she did not oblige. The court gave a detailed narrative filled with drama, and in subsequent years local dailies continued to publish lurid stories. Santhakumar’s body was exhumed from a municipal burial ground by forest officials in Kodaikanal in October 2001. Rajagopal himself has been behind bars for less than a year. Jeevajothi’s family has accused Rajagopal of intimidation and attempting to bribe them. And although Saravana Bhavan’s brand value briefly took a hit a decade ago, business and expansions abroad have continued to grow.

How: Rajagopal, who was born days before Independence in a lower-caste community in Tuticorin, is credited with revolutionising the vegetarian restaurant business, and ruling over a domain traditionally dominated by the upper-caste Brahmins. Chennai had next to no places to eat out a century earlier. Saravana Bhavan debuted with a small shop in 1981 and grew into a cluster across the city in the 1990s, before spreading beyond India in 2000. Today, the restaurant chain, which locals boast of as their version of McDonald’s, has a footprint in more than 20 countries where the outlets are run by franchises. Rajagopal has two sons who have gradually taken over the company’s domestic and international operations. Through the long-drawn-out murder case, he has enjoyed the loyalty of the thousands of Saravana Bhavan employees while he maintains an elusive profile. What has remained a constant is also the consistency of food served at the restaurant’s outlets. It remains to be seen if its religiously inclined founder will continue to evade a life behind bars.