Fatal attraction that destroyed a businessman

Chennai

When he asked Jeevajyothi, then in her 20s, to become his third wife, P Rajagopal’s business empire was on its ascent, with Hotel Saravana Bhavan on the verge of spreading its wings abroad as well. However, his astrologer apparently told that it would reach even higher if he married her. Beyond her beauty, it was this that reportedly prompted the hotelier to try forcing her to become his next wife, which triggered a chain of events that now has him facing life imprisonment.

By the time his obsession over Jeevajyothi began and intensified, Saravana Bhavan was near the peak of its success, a spectacular achievement for its founder, a Class 7 dropout from Punnaiyadi in Thoothukudi, who came to Madras in his teens and opened a tiny grocery shop in 1968.

It took 13 years for him to open his first restaurant in KK Nagar, in 1981. But the venture soon became very successful, opening a number of new branches. He commanded respect among the workforce, taking care of them with healthcare, housing stipends, marriage fund for their daughters. They began respectfully addressing him ‘Annachi’ (big brother).

By then he was married twice already – first in 1972 when he married the mother of his sons, Saravanan and Sivakumar, and then in 1994, when he married the wife of one of his employees. That was when he laid his eyes on Jeevajyothi, daughter of one of his staff members, and began putting pressure on her to become his third wife. But she was not interested in the proposal, as she was in love with Prince Santhakumar, her brother’s maths tuition teacher.

Even as Rajagopal was wooing her to marry him, Jeevajyothi eloped with Santhakumar and got their marriage registered in April 1999. But that did nothing to diminish Rajagopal’s obsession over her. He showered her with gifts, and even helped her open a fancy store. But even though she accepted the gifts, she continued to resist Rajagopal’s advances.

In September 2001, Rajagopal came to the couple’s house at midnight and gave an ultimatum to Santhakumar to end their relationship within two days.

The couple tried to escape, but a group of five employees, led by a restaurant manager named Daniel, intercepted them. They forced the couple into a car and took them a godown in KK Nagar, where Rajagopal beat up Santhakumar.

Jeevajyothi and Santhakumar escaped from the detention on October 12 in the pretext of going out to attend a “felicitation function” for Rajagopal. Instead, they went to the city police commissioner’s office to file a complaint.

Six days later, Rajagopal’s employees kidnapped them again and forcibly separated them. They pushed Jeevajyothi into a luxury sedan with Rajagopal, who had in his hand a copy of the complaint they gave to the police.

Two days later, Santhakumar contacted her by phone to inform that Rajagopal had paid Daniel Rs 5 lakh to kill him. But Daniel had instead let him go, asking him to leave the State and go to Mumbai. But, she insisted that he came home to her.

Later that night, the couple, along with her parents and brother, went to meet Rajagopal to plead him to leave them alone. Rajagopal made them wait in a nearby room. He then called Daniel and questioned him about Santhakumar. Daniel claimed that he had tied up Santhakumar and dumped him on a railway track, and a train ran over him. To his shock, Rajagopal called Santhakumar into the room. Daniel, furious that his boss has come to know about his betrayal, started assaulting Santhakumar.

Eventually Rajagopal’s henchmen put them all into a van and took them to another location. Two days later, the men, including Daniel, forced Santhakumar into a car. On October 31, Santhakumar’s body was found in Kodaikanal valley.

That was the beginning of the end of Rajagopal’s reign. Since then, his two sons took over the business, slowly pushing him to the sideline. Though the restaurant now has a chain of outlets across the globe, Annachi is now managing only one branch in Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi. “He is not well. He is moving around in a wheel chair now,” a source close to him said.

In 2004, Rajagopal sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by a sessions court. When he appealed, prosecution sought enhancement of his punishment. In 2009, the Madras High Court set aside the sessions court’s punishment, and awarded him life imprisonment following which an appeal was filed at the Supreme Court of India.