1. Rajagopal, the founder of Saravana Bhavan catches a fleeing Jeevajothi and her husband Prince. He abducts them in an attempt to make Jeevajothi his third wife. Check out this incredible excerpt from ‘Cured of Prince’ in this week’s story from Karnataka!

When Jeevajothi and Prince returned home from Marina Beach, they found waiting at their doorstep Jeevajothi’s parents, her brother, and several of Rajagopal’s henchmen, among them Tamil Selvan, Daniel, Karmegham, Hussain and Kasi. These men were all Saravana Bhavan staffers. They had managerial designations, but they were part bouncers, part troubleshooters, and mainly goons. They may have joined initially to work in the restaurant, but had then earned Rajagopal’s confidence enough for him to trust them to do his dirty work. The dark safari suits they wore, along the lines of VIP security guards, only made them look more thuggish. 

Tamil Selvan told Jeevajothi and Prince that Annachi was waiting, and they had come to take the couple to him.

There, in a room on the first floor was where the next scenes unfolded. Prince and Jeevajothi were locked up in the room. Some ten minutes after that, the door opened and Rajagopal walked in, followed by some of his henchmen and Chandrashekhar. Rajagopal folded up his veshti, strode up to Prince and struck him across the face, then pushed him to the floor and kicked him. His henchmen too rained blows on Prince. 

‘I fell at Rajagopal’s feet and cried and begged him not to hurt my husband. My husband tried to pull me up on my feet saying I should not do that. At that Rajagopal shouted at Prince, “Don’t touch her. I will kill you if you touch her. You have lost your rights to touch her,” and so saying he held Prince by the throat with one hand, struck him across the face with the other, and pushed him to the ground,’ Jeevajothi told the court in her deposition. 

Rajagopal then asked the waiting henchmen to take Prince away and give him a thrashing. Jeevajothi recounted the events that followed in her court deposition: 

As I was sitting in the corner and crying, Rajagopal closed the door and came close to me, folding his veshti up once again. He said, ‘How far did you think you could run away from me? If I wished to, I could do anything to you right now, but I will not resort to that kind of cheap conduct. That’s not what I want. I want to get married to you properly so that you will live with me as my wife number three till the end.’ Chandrashekhar, who was also present, told me, ‘Do as Annachi says, that is the best for you.’ 

After this, the henchmen dragged Jeevajothi’s husband back into the room, all beaten up, and now Rajagopal addressed him: ‘I asked you to scram, to leave this city. And you were trying to take her with you? You can’t run away with her. I could take her as my wife right here, in front of you. Try and save her, if you can.’ 

He then asked his men to take the couple back to their home, and gave them another ultimatum, another deadline. ‘I will give you a week’s time. Think over everything carefully, decide and let me know–’ was Rajagopal’s parting shot. 

A sudden twist in the saga came the next day.

Intrigued? Continue reading ‘Cured of Prince’ for free on 1/8/21, Sunday here!