New Delhi: P. Rajagopal, the founder of South Indian food chain “Saravana Bhavan”, who has been convicted in a murder case, surrendered on Tuesday at the Madras high court.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by Rajagopal seeking extension of time to surrender on medical grounds. Rajagopal was awarded life imprisonment for the murdering one of his employees in October 2001 to marry his wife.
Rejecting to plea for more time to surrender to serve rest of his life imprisonment, a bench of Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Mohahn M. Shantanagoudar and Justice Ajay Rastogi said, “Let him go and surrender to the authorities.”
Telling senior counsel Kapil Sibal appearing for Rajagopal not to expect any further indulgence from the court as he has already been given two months reprieve, Justice Ramana said, “It is not fair on your part and on the part of the petitioner (Rajagopal) to come and seek more time to surrender.”
The bench also said that at no point during the course of the hearing there was any mention about his alleged medical condition, Sibal said that he was granted bail on the medical grounds only.
Declining the plea, the unmoved court asked Rajagopal to surrender.
The top court had on March 29, 2019, had upheld the life imprisonment of Rajagopal while holding “we find that the evidence on record fully proves the case of the prosecution and that the Trial Court as well as the high court evaluated the material on record in its proper prospective while coming to their conclusion.”
The Madras High Court by its March 19, 2009 order had upheld Rajagopal’s conviction and had enhanced the 10-year sentence given by a trial court to life imprisonment.
