Chennai: Saravana Bhavan owner P Rajagopal, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case, died at a private hospital on Thursday, a day after he was put on ventilator support following a heart attack.

Rajagopal, who shifted to a private hospital in the city from a government hospital following a court direction on Tuesday, died around 10 am on Thursday, news agency PTI quoted a source close to him as saying.

The founder of popular food chain had surrendered along with another accused before a sessions court on July 9 to serve life term for killing Prince Shantakumar to marry his wife Jeevajothi, who was the daughter of a former employee in his hotel.

The Madras HC had on Tuesday permitted Rajagopal to shift to a private facility for further treatment after he surrendered to serve the life sentence. Passing an interim order on a petition filed by Rajagopal's son, the court had directed the state government and the prison authorities to transfer the hotelier from the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital to the Vijaya Hospital.

The court had posted the matter for further hearing to August 6.

In his petition, Rajagopal's son had claimed that his father's condition worsened after he was admitted to Stanley hospital, following his surrender in a Sessions Court on July 9.

The hotelier had surrendered along with another accused to serve life term after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking more time on grounds of ill-health.

While upholding the life sentence awarded to Rajagopal for murdering an employee in October 2001 to marry his wife, the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender in the trial court on July 7.