Murder convict barred from entering Nepal for 10 years
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 23
Twin-murder convict Charles Sobhraj was released from the Central Jail after more than 19 years of incarceration and deported to his home country France this evening in a Qatar Airways flight.
Assistant Director General of Department of Immigration Pradarsani Kumari told THT that the authorities deported Sobhraj to his home country and barred him from entering Nepal for the next 10 years.She said Sobhraj was flown to France after the government decided to deport him to his home country as soon as possible. His travel documents and all necessary formalities were completed before his flight.
Sobhraj was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the 1975 murders of Canadian tourist Laurent Carriere and American tourist Connie Jo Bronzich.
He was arrested by the Nepal Police from Casino Royale a day after The Himalayan Times carried a frontpage scoop in September 2003 headlined 'The Serpent living incognito in Thamel'.
Advocate Nihita Biswas, who had married Sobhraj in 2008 in jail and who is also his attorney, said, after Sobhraj's release from the prison: "My main concern is to arrange for his immediate return to his country for his own security."
Sobhraj, whose mother was Vietnamese and father Indian, was accused of committing crimes in France, Greece, Iran, Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, and Malaysia.
He was accused of drugging, robbing, and murdering western backpackers, mainly young women, along the so called 'Hippie Trail' in the 1970s.
His nickname, The Serpent, stems from his ability to disguise and escape from authorities. It later became the title for a BBC and Netflix series about the serial killer, which was released in 2021.
Sobhraj also served 21 years in Indian jail and was on the run for 22 days when he escaped from Delhi's Tihar Jail in 1986 by feeding prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 24, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
