P Rajagopal, the owner of Saravana Bhavan, a popular South Indian restaurant chain in the world, died of cardiac arrest today. The 72-year-old breathed his last at a private hospital in Chennai. The popular Saravana Bhavan was started at a time when eating outside was not a norm in middle-class South Indian families. However, his culinary venture grew to become a household name in Tamil Nadu and beyond. His popularity grew so much so that it earned him the name 'Dosa King'. However, his life was embroiled in controversies, of which, one changed his life forever. He had kidnapped and murdered a man, whose wife, he was in love with.

P Rajagopal who was born to an onion seller in Tuticorin began his career as a grocer in Chennai. Saravana Bhavan has a chain of restaurants with outlets in over 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. Fall of Saravana Bhavan’s 'Dosa King': How Obsession with a Married Woman Led P Rajagopal to Commit Murder.

Know All About the Life Incidents And Case Which Turned  Saravana Bhavana's Owner P Rajagopal's Life Forever

Rajagopal's death comes after he surrendered in the court to serve life imprisonment for the murder of a man, whose wife he wanted to marry. He had kidnapped and killed Prince Shanthakumar, husband of a woman named Jeevajothi, whom he wanted as his third wife. Jeevajothi was the daughter of his former employee who was an assistant manager at Saravana Bhavan's Chennai branch. Unable to fulfil his desire, he plotted the murder and killed Prince, thinking he could have the love of his life.

In 2001, Rajagopal kidnapped his employee's daughter, Jeevajothi and her husband Prince Shanthakumar. Rajagopal had two wives and Jeevajothi, who was in her twenties rejected him and married Prince, a man she loved in 1999. The prosecution told the court that in 2001, Rajagopal threatened the couple and demanded them to end their marriage. The couple complained to the police and days later, Rajagopal kidnapped and killed Shanthakumar. The forest department officials had found Santhakumar's body inside the Tiger Chola forests in Kodaikanal on October 31, 2001.

It is said that an astrologer told him that marrying the employee's daughter would bring him good luck and fortune. According to the prosecution, Rajagopal helped Jeevajothi and her family financially. He used to speak to her over the phone, gifted her jewellery and sarees, and also paid her medical bills.

The same day Rajagopal surrendered, he was admitted to the prison ward of the Stanley Medical College and Hospital in Chennai. He surrendered last week only after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking more time. On Tuesday, Rajagopal was shifted to a private hospital from a government hospital after a court order. He went to the court with an oxygen mask attached to his face. Although Rajagopal's counsel sought more time for his surrender sighting his ill health, Madras High Court rejected the plea.

The post-mortem report stated that cause of death as asphyxia due to throttling. Following which, police found the cloth used for the murder. A sessions court found Rajagopal guilty of the crime in 2004 and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. He challenged the sessions court verdict in the Madras High Court, however, was awarded life imprisonment in 2009.

Dismissing appeals against the 2009 verdict of the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court had said, "In our considered opinion, the prosecution has proved the complicity of all the appellants in murdering Santhakumar by strangulating him and thereafter throwing the dead body at Tiger Chola (in Kodaikanal)." He again appealed against the verdict in the Supreme Court, which upheld the Madras High Court order in March 2019. He was then asked to surrender on July 7, but he appealed again and it the plea got rejected by the top court.

Rajagopal's career was a classic example of rags to riches story. While tonnes of similar cases have been narrated through books and movies, it was new, shocking and terrifying at the time it unfolded. Coming from poor and backward strata of the society, Rajagopal earned fame and name nationally and internationally in no time. However, pride and power coupled with an obsession for women crept inside him, leading to his downfall.

AFP quoted Shekhar, a journalist in Chennai as saying, "Rajagopal is an example of how you can really come up in the society through hard work and thinking out of the box. What led to his downfall was his weakness for women and his belief that he was so powerful that he could get somebody murdered and get away with it."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2019 01:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).