Thursday, April 9, 2009

Saravana Bhavan owner's son held for visa fraud

Chennai: The family that owns South Indian fast food chain Saravana Bhavan is in trouble, again.

First it was the father who went to jail for murder. Now, his son has been charged with cheating and fraud.

R Shivakumar, son of the owner of Hotel Saravana Bhavan, one of the most popular south Indian restaurant chains, has been sent to 15 days judicial custody for allegedly attempting to obtain US visas for his employees using forged documents.

“We have applied for bail and the application comes to court on November 11. He has been remanded to 15 days of judicial custody,” Shivakumar’s defence counsel Muthukannayan said

Sivakumar was arrested on Saturday night following a complaint from the US Consulate.

He has been booked under five sections of the Indian Penal Code including Section 420 which deals with cheating and fraud.

After initial interrogation, Shivakumar was presented in court on Sunday evening.

The founder of Hotel Saravana Bhavan, Rajagopal, was charged with murder and has been out on bail for more than two years now. Now his son is going to spend the next 14 days in judicial custody.

But the counsel for Hotel Saravana Bhavan is hoping that they can bail out Sivakumar just like they succeeded in bailing out his father years ago.

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