Sobhraj, who is a French citizen, has spent most of his life behind bars. In countries such as India, Thailand and Nepal, he is said to have posed as a jeweler and befriended his victims. Many of them were Western tourists traveling on foot through Asia. The Frenchman then allegedly drugged, robbed and killed the tourists. Several were found wearing bikinis, which gave Sobhraj the nickname “the bikini killer”. INTERNATIONAL WANTED: Charles Sobhraj was arrested in India in 1976. Photo: Police Sobhraj is said to have seen himself as a criminal hero, according to journalist Julie Clarke who interviewed him in 2021. – As long as I can talk to people, I can manipulate them , he reportedly told Clarke. Long police hunt He also went by the nickname “the snake”, which came from his stealing victims’ identities and his ability to avoid being arrested. In the mid-70s, the Thai authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sobhraj, because he was suspected of drugging and killing six women on a beach near Pattaya. Sobhraj was finally arrested in India in 1976, after he drugged a group of French tourists in the big city of New Delhi. Here he was sentenced to prison for the poisoning. LONG HUNT: This is what the front page of the Bangkok Post newspaper looked like after Sobhraj had been arrested by the police in 1976. Photo: Facsimile Bangkok Post / Bangkok Post Drugged the jailers Sobhraj has escaped from prison several times. In 1986, he did it in sensational fashion, when he tricked the prison guards into rolling around. Sobhraj threw a birthday party for the jailers and drugged them with sleeping pills, mixed in grapes and biscuits, according to the BBC. Afterwards, he walked out of the prison together with four others. He was arrested again just under a month later and served time until 1997, when he was extradited to France. EXTRADITED TO FRANCE: Charles Sobhraj on his way out of court with lawyer Jaques Verges (left) in Paris in 1997. Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP For six years he lived by giving well-paid interviews to journalists and photographers. The serial killer is said to have lived an exclusive life in the French capital. Sobhraj’s life story was dramatized in the Netflix series “The Serpent” from 2021. The film rights to his life are said to have been sold for 15 million pounds, according to the BBC. MANIPULATE: Sobhraj managed to escape from prison several times. Photo: PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP – Pure luck Luck turned when Sobhraj returned to Nepal in 2003. It was one of the few countries that still had an outstanding arrest warrant for him. There he was discovered in a casino by journalist Joseph Nathan, who wrote an article about the serial killer in the Himalayan Times newspaper. – It was pure luck that I recognized him, Nathan told AFP later. After Nathan’s article, the police moved out. Sobhraj was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of two American women. He has been imprisoned in Kathmandu since then. The release comes as a result of the Frenchman’s poor health in recent years. In Nepal, bedridden prisoners who have served three quarters of their sentence can be released. Charles Sobhraj can thus return to France after spending almost 20 years in prison in Nepal. FREE MAN: Charles Sobhraj was taken out of prison in Kathmandu under heavy police protection. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters – I have a lot to do Hidden behind a beanie and with a mask pulled up tightly in front of his face, Sobhraj was led out of the prison in Kathmandu on Christmas Eve. – I feel good, said Sobhraj after the release. – I have a lot to do and many people I have to sue, including the state of Nepal. And the Frenchman himself claims that he was innocently convicted. – I’m innocent in those cases, okay? So I don’t have to feel good or bad about it.
ttn-69
The “Bikini killer” released from prison – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
