Charles Sobhraj: From Escaping Tihad Jail to confidently entering Nepal

Kathmandu - Supreme Court has ordered the release of the French serial killer Charles Sobhraj. Upon the release verdict of the Supreme Court, Sobhraj is to be handed over to immigration. Sobhraj was imprisoned in Nepal for the last 19 years for the crimes of two murders and one attempted murder. The Supreme court ordered to release him nine months before his release date after he received an imprisonment exemption as a senior citizen.
The bench of Supreme Court Judges, Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha ordered on Wednesday that he should be immediately released from jail and sent to the respective country within 15 days in a writ related to the petition of the detainee's physical appearance by Sobhraj. Along with this, the Central Jail has prepared to release Sobhraj and hand him over to the Immigration Department.
Sobhraj is 78 years old and is suffering from heart disease.
Sobhraj has been imprisoned in Nepal since 2003 A.D. as he was accused of murdering two American tourists. The court has ordered to deliver him before 15 days of his release.
Charles Sobhraj was infamous as "The serpent" and "Bikini killer". He was born on April 6 1944 in Saigon, Vietnam. His mother was a Vietnamese citizen, while his father was Indian. His father refused to adopt him.

 
As France ruled Vietnam at the time, he took French citizenship by being born in the French colony.
Charles Sobhraj, an expert in disguise, used to target tourists and young women. Charles Sobhraj was accused of more than 20 murders in India, Thailand, Nepal, Turkey, and Iran. He was called a 'serial killer', but before August 2004 he had not been convicted in any such case. As a criminal, Sobhraj either got out of jail by deceiving or got facilities in jail by bribing the officials. It is believed that he has escaped the prisons of Afghanistan, Greece, and Iran as well. He spent around 20 years in an Indian prison for the crime of poisoning a French tourist.

Entering the world of crime
It is believed he used to commit small crimes in France in his initial days but became a serial killer when he came to Asia in 1963.
Specialists claim that his crime pattern is always the same. He used to befriend drug-taking French and English-speaking tourists and murdered them after robbing them.
He had been accused of more than 20 murders from 1972 till 1982 and in every case, victims were given drugs. They were strangled and killed or burned.
He had escaped Indian prison twice. Once from Tihad which was renowned for its high security.

How and why he escaped prison?
He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in 1976, but after 10 years he escaped Tihad prison.
Sobhraj had organized a birthday party in the prison, where even the guards along with the prisoners were called.
Sleep-inducing medicine was mixed in the biscuits and grapes which were distributed at the party. And a few moments later, everyone except Sobhraj and four others who escaped prison, fell asleep.
A report published in an Indian newspaper stated that he was so sure of his escape that he even took a picture at the gate of the prison.
It is said that at the end of his 10 years sentence, he escaped so that he would be caught again and another sentence would be given to him for escaping prison. He did so because he would be able to avoid his extradition to Thailand, where he was accused of five murders and he was sure to receive a death sentence there.
By the time he was released in 1997, his trial in Bangkok had expired and India extradited him to France the same year.

Arrested in Nepal
Charles Sobhraj returned to Nepal in 2003 again and this time he was sure that he would be arrested by Nepal Police. He even had a conversation with the journalists here. He was arrested at a Casino in Kathmandu.
Nepal reopened a 28-year-old case against him for murdering a Canadian citizen and an American woman by traveling on a duplicate passport. Sobhraj denied the accusal, but Police claimed that they had sufficient proof and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004.
Charles Sobhraj had given an interview to foreign media from a Nepali prison in April of last year, which brought him to light once again. A question arose that how was he able to talk with the media as a prisoner. A report was published in two British newspapers on the topic of his imprisonment and his future plan.

(source: BBC)