Sobhraj had visited Nepal in 1975, SC told

During trial in Indian court he had admitted to visiting Nepal in 1975

Kathmandu, August 23:

Government attorneys today produced evidence in the Supreme Court, in which jailed international serial killer Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj has admitted before an Indian Court that he had visited Nepal in 1975.

During today’s hearing in the Supreme Court, on the appeal filed by Sobhraj, government Deputy Attorney Brajesh Pyakurel produced a text of the verdict of an Indian Trial Court.

Attorney Pyakurel said, “Sobhraj’s claim that he did not visit Nepal in 1975, when the crime for which he has been convicted, is false.”

Producing the text of judgment on Government of India vs Sobhraj, in which Sobhraj had been sentenced to a seven- year jail term for murdering Luke Soleman, Pyakurel claimed that Sobhraj’s plea of alibi is false.

“During the trial in Indian court, Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj had recorded his statement admitting that he had visited Nepal in 1975; and now how can he claim that he had not

visited Nepal in 1975?” Pyakurel asked.

He also asked the bench to consider this piece of information as evidence and claimed that there is a practice that a piece of information recorded in any judicial authority in any country can be taken as evidence in another country .

Now, on the basis of this evidence, the court has no ground but to uphold the verdicts issued by lower courts, another government Deputy Attorney Rewati Raj Tripathi claimed.

A division bench of justices Anup Raj Sharma and Top Bahadur Magar has been hearing Sobhraj’s appeal against the verdicts of Kathmandu District Court and Patan Appellate Court, based on which he is serving a life sentence.

Earlier today, Sobhraj’s lawyers Rajaram Dhakal and Ram Bandhu Sharma had concluded their arguments.

The investigation was weak and the allegation baseless so the apex court cannot uphold the lower court verdicts, Dhakal claimed.

Duplicate photos and the documents gathered from various international agencies cannot be taken as evidence, he said.

Advocate Sharma also questioned the documents sent by various foreign authorities. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.