NEW DELHI • An Indian restaurant tycoon known as the "dosa king" has died in hospital, a week after beginning a life sentence for the murder of a love rival.

P. Rajagopal was convicted of the murder of his love interest's husband in 2004, but only went to jail this month, when the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.

The 71-year-old Rajagopal, who turned his Saravana Bhavan restaurant into a global chain, died yesterday at Chennai's Vijaya hospital where he was taken on Tuesday with heart problems.

"We failed to revive him and he passed away this morning due to cardiac failure," a hospital official told Agence France-Presse.

Before beginning his sentence, Rajagopal had pleaded to be allowed to remain free because of his ill health.

When he gave himself up on July 9, he arrived at the Madras High Court in an ambulance with an oxygen mask strapped to his face.

Rajagopal rose from rags to riches, creating a chain which now has more than 80 restaurants in India and around the world, from London's Leicester Square to New York's Lexington Avenue and also Singapore, Sydney and Stockholm.

The chain became an international success with a winning formula of affordable South Indian food items such as dosa pancakes, deep-fried vadas and idli rice cakes.

But his success was overshadowed by his conviction over the killing of the husband of a woman he wanted to make his third wife.

His trial heard that an astrologer had told him to marry the woman, then in her 20s, but she was already wed and repeatedly rejected Rajagopal's advances.

A court convicted Rajagopal in 2004 and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. This was increased to life imprisonment when his appeal was rejected by the High Court in 2009, and Rajagopal had battled to avoid prison ever since with a series of appeals.

It was unclear whether the tycoon had spent any time in prison when the final appeal was exhausted earlier this month.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE