JOIN USSC dismisses P Rajagopal's surrender extension plea
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea by P Rajagopal, owner of popular Saravana Bhavan's chain of hotels, awarded life term for murdering an ex-employee's son-in-law in October 2001, to admit him to a hospital and provide treatment due to poor health.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana, Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Ajay Rastogi did not allow senior advocate Kapil Sibal to make his submission on behalf of the applicant. All he could say that the applicant was very ill.
Additional Advocate General of Tamil Nadu Balaji Srinivasan and advocate M Yogesh Khanna were present on behalf of the prosecution.
Earlier, the top court had found Rajagopal harboured the desire to take spouse of the deceased as his third wife. It had then dismissed the appeals filed by the convicts whose sentence was enhanced to life term by the Madras High Court on March 20, 2009.
In his last-ditch attempt, he filed an application claiming that he was 71 years old and was a chronic patient with type two diabetes, which affected his both kidneys and resulted into complete loss to vision in his right eye. He also claimed he suffered a paralytic attack on his left side in 2014 and was unable to walk on his own. He also submitted that he required intense medical care with specialised equipment and at least assistance of two persons for carrying out his daily activities.
“Even though the prison has basic medical facilities the same will not be sufficient to meet his requirement,” he said.
He said he should be allowed to admit himself in SRM Institute of Medical Sciences, Vijaya Hospital or at least Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital Chennai as such facilities are available there.
The court had earlier on March 29 directed him to surrender by July 7 to serve the life imprisonment. With the rejection of his plea, he would now have no option but to surrender to undergo the prison term.