On release, he was due to be extradited to Thailand, where he faced the death penalty for several murders. But he managed to avoid conviction for either of the killings, and instead received a 12-year sentence for the attempted robbery of the students. He was also charged with the murders of an Israeli academic in Varanasi and a French tourist in Delhi. He had been captured in 1976 while drugging 60 French engineering students in Delhi. I had last seen Sobhraj in 1997, just after he was released from two decades in an Indian prison. Both titles played on the Serpent, the nickname Sobhraj had been given by the press because he was cunning and slippery, capable of beguiling sang-froid and poisonous violence. In 1979 Thomas Thompson added an equally disturbing portrait with Later, he realised that the confession might prove problematic and denied everything he told Neville about the murders. The book was published in 1979, after the Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian parentage had been on trial in India in 1977, when he thought the admission couldn't hurt him. The Life And Crimes Of Charles Sobhraj - later renamed And such was the richly implausible nature of his exploits that Sobhraj generated his own impressive literary testaments.įirst Richard Neville, the celebrated chronicler of the Sixties counterculture, drew an extended taped confession from Sobhraj in Like some bizarre real-life combination of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley and Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter, he was handsome, charming and utterly without scruple. He earned the nickname “The Serpent” after escaping prisons in multiple countries and evading authorities and the moniker later became the title for BBC and Netflix series about his exploits.Afterwards, he would steal their belongings and identities, often travelling the world on their passports and money. Ultimately, Sobhraj was accused of committing crimes across the world in countries including France, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Napal, India, Thailand, and Malaysia. However, he was jailed in India for poisoning a group of French tourists in New Delhi in 1976 before he could stand trial on the charges in Thailand. Sobhraj is suspected of committing more murders, including in Thailand, where police say he killed six women in the 1970s, some of whom turned up dead on a beach near the resort of Pattaya. Sobhraj in the Doha airport waiting for his flight to France. I have to sue a lot of people,” Sobhraj told AFP. While behind bars, Sobhraj married Nihita Biswas, a Nepali woman 44 years younger than him, Al Jazeera reported.įollowing his release, Sobhraj told French news agency AFP that he was not guilty of murdering Bronzich and Carriere. In 2014, found guilty of killing Bronzich’s Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, and had served 19 years out of a 20-year sentence. Sobhraj had been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. Asked what his next steps would be, she said: “He will file a legal complaint against Nepal because the whole case against him was fabricated.” Sobhraj, pictured leaving a hearing in Kathmandu in May 2011. “He is well, he is a free man,” said Sobhraj’s lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre told Reuters. The 78-year-old French national, who was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, landed at Paris’ main international airport and was escorted off the plane by police after he was formally released on Friday. Sobhraj has heart disease and will need open-heart surgery, according to the court. Nepalese law allows inmates who have exhibited good behavior to be released after they complete at least 75% of their prison term. I’m a demonologist - this is what really motivates serial killersĪ Frenchman linked to the murders of more 20 western backpackers on the “hippie trail” through Asia between 19, was returned to his homeland after decades in a Nepalese prison.ĭubbed “The Serpent,” Charles Sobhraj had spent 19 years behind bars in Nepal for killing two people in 1975 before that country’s Supreme Court ordered his release due to failing health, and good behavior. The three students killed in UK murder spree identified Gilgo Beach serial killer’s 10-year break may be due to being too old for murder, expert says Serial killer fears stoked after at least 16 bodies pulled from Chicago waterways since 2022
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