Pitchai Rajagopal (5 August 1947 – 18 July 2019) was the founder of the Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants based in Chennai, India.

Born in rural Tamil Nadu into a farming family, and with little education, Rajagopal built a global restaurant chain.

[5] Rajagopal was born in Punnaiyadi, a tiny village in Tuticorin District, Tamil Nadu, India.

Santhakumar was kidnapped and his body was found strangled a few days later in a resort town in the Western Ghats mountain range.

On 29 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India upheld Rajagopal's murder conviction and life imprisonment.