Saravana Bhavan owner comes to court in ambulance, surrenders
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI, JULY 10, 2019 00:00 IST
No option left:P. Rajagopal arrives in ambulance to surrender before a court in Chennai on Tuesday.Special Arrangement
Case pertains to murder of his employee 18 years ago
Nearly 18 years after Saravana Bhavan hotel staffer Prince Santhakumar was kidnapped and murdered, the owner of the chain of hotels P. Rajagopal, the main offender in the case, surrendered in a city court on Tuesday. He was brought in an ambulance as he was not keeping well.
Rajagopal, now 73, was cited as accused number 1 in the kidnap and murder of Santhakumar, who was his employee, in 2001.
When the trial court gave a lower punishment to the convicts in 2004, the State preferred an appeal before the Madras High Court. In 2009, the Madras High Court sentenced him and five others to life imprisonment. Three others were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and two more to two years’ imprisonment.
In March, the Supreme Court confirmed the order of the Madras High Court and gave time till July 7 to the convicts for surrendering to serve prison terms.
Rajagopal’s last-ditch effort to skip incarceration was rejected by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Following the rejection of his plea, he was brought in an ambulance by his staff to the city civil court complex on the Madras High Court campus.
Another co-accused Janardhanan was also brought in another ambulance. Their advocates went to the IV Additional Sessions Court located on the third floor and asked Judge G. Thanendran to accept the surrender of Rajagopal and Janardhanan. They said since they were bed-ridden and on stretchers, they could not bring them to the third floor.
But the prosecution and the Velachery inspector of police opposed this plea. They wanted the court to reject surrender petitions and to issue warrants straightaway. The inspector told the court that when a police officer visited Rajagopal recently, he was sitting in a chair. After a brief argument, the Judge ordered them brought to the court.
Carried on stretcher
Rajagopal alighted from the ambulance. Seven staffers carried him on a stretcher through the narrow staircases to the third floor. When the court staff asked his name and about identification marks, he responded.
Judge Thanendran ordered the police to take custody of the two and lodge them in Central Prison. However Rajagopal was admitted to the Intermediate Care Unit of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital on Tuesday evening. Hospital authorities said doctors were examining him as he had complaints of cardiac ailments, hypertension and diabetes.
Earlier the Supreme Court refused to intervene in a plea by Rajagopal, seeking a direction to the State of Tamil Nadu to admit him in any of three Chennai hospitals of his choice for medical treatment “during the period of his duress.”
“If he was so ill, why did he not choose to indicate it during the hearing of his appeal,” Justice N.V. Ramana asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Rajagopal, on Tuesday.
“You ask the authorities concerned... No adjournments from now,” Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, on the Bench, observed
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI, JULY 10, 2019 00:00 IST
No option left:P. Rajagopal arrives in ambulance to surrender before a court in Chennai on Tuesday.Special Arrangement
Case pertains to murder of his employee 18 years ago
Nearly 18 years after Saravana Bhavan hotel staffer Prince Santhakumar was kidnapped and murdered, the owner of the chain of hotels P. Rajagopal, the main offender in the case, surrendered in a city court on Tuesday. He was brought in an ambulance as he was not keeping well.
Rajagopal, now 73, was cited as accused number 1 in the kidnap and murder of Santhakumar, who was his employee, in 2001.
When the trial court gave a lower punishment to the convicts in 2004, the State preferred an appeal before the Madras High Court. In 2009, the Madras High Court sentenced him and five others to life imprisonment. Three others were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and two more to two years’ imprisonment.
In March, the Supreme Court confirmed the order of the Madras High Court and gave time till July 7 to the convicts for surrendering to serve prison terms.
Rajagopal’s last-ditch effort to skip incarceration was rejected by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Following the rejection of his plea, he was brought in an ambulance by his staff to the city civil court complex on the Madras High Court campus.
Another co-accused Janardhanan was also brought in another ambulance. Their advocates went to the IV Additional Sessions Court located on the third floor and asked Judge G. Thanendran to accept the surrender of Rajagopal and Janardhanan. They said since they were bed-ridden and on stretchers, they could not bring them to the third floor.
But the prosecution and the Velachery inspector of police opposed this plea. They wanted the court to reject surrender petitions and to issue warrants straightaway. The inspector told the court that when a police officer visited Rajagopal recently, he was sitting in a chair. After a brief argument, the Judge ordered them brought to the court.
Carried on stretcher
Rajagopal alighted from the ambulance. Seven staffers carried him on a stretcher through the narrow staircases to the third floor. When the court staff asked his name and about identification marks, he responded.
Judge Thanendran ordered the police to take custody of the two and lodge them in Central Prison. However Rajagopal was admitted to the Intermediate Care Unit of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital on Tuesday evening. Hospital authorities said doctors were examining him as he had complaints of cardiac ailments, hypertension and diabetes.
Earlier the Supreme Court refused to intervene in a plea by Rajagopal, seeking a direction to the State of Tamil Nadu to admit him in any of three Chennai hospitals of his choice for medical treatment “during the period of his duress.”
“If he was so ill, why did he not choose to indicate it during the hearing of his appeal,” Justice N.V. Ramana asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Rajagopal, on Tuesday.
“You ask the authorities concerned... No adjournments from now,” Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, on the Bench, observed
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