For many years Asia’s most wished man, French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, terrorised the continent with a string of murders within the Seventies that focused vacationers.
The person nicknamed “the Serpent” was freed on well being grounds from jail in Nepal on Friday.
Here’s a timeline of his alleged killing spree:
– 1944: Born in Asia –
Sobhraj is born in Saigon on April 6, 1944, to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mom who later remarries a Frenchman.
In 1963, he embarks on a life as a world criminal, which is able to take him to Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In 1970, he strikes to India, the place he’s arrested a 12 months later for a jewelry heist. He flees whereas out on bail and goes to Greece, the place he additionally manages to flee after being arrested.
– 1975: ‘Bikini killer’ –
He arrives in Bangkok in 1975 along with his Canadian girlfriend and an Indian affiliate.
He hangs out with vacationers, passing himself off as a dealer in valuable stones.
In October, the physique of a younger girl is discovered on a Thai seashore in Pattaya, sporting a bikini. Different victims observe, overwhelmed, strangled or burned to loss of life.
Sobhraj, who will turn out to be often known as the “bikini killer” allegedly makes use of his victims’ passports for mysterious journeys linked to commerce in valuable stones and medicines.
Below a cloud of suspicion, he flees to India.
– 1976: Arrested in India –
In July 1976, he’s arrested in India after making an attempt to drug a bunch of greater than 20 French vacationers in a New Delhi lodge.
He’s additionally accused of the homicide of one other French vacationer, Luc Salomon, who had been poisoned in a Mumbai lodge.
In Could 1982, he’s handed a life sentence by an Indian court docket for the 1976 homicide of Israeli vacationer Alan Jacob, however is acquitted on attraction a 12 months later for lack of proof.
He stays in jail for his different crimes.
– 1980: Thailand calls for extradition –
In late 1985, India agrees to Thailand’s request to extradite Sobhraj for the murders of a Turkish vacationer and a younger American girl, Teresa Knowlton.
He dangers the loss of life penalty there.
He then escapes from jail in New Delhi in March 1986 by feeding drug-laced sweets to his guards.
He’s recaptured three weeks later in a Goa restaurant.
However delays within the Indian authorized system imply the prison-break case doesn’t come to trial for a number of years, by which period Thai authorities have misplaced curiosity in having him extradited.
Accused of at the very least 15 murders throughout 10 nations, by the point he leaves Indian jails, his alleged crimes have fallen underneath the statute of limitations in Thailand.
Upon launch, he goes to France and lives there quietly till 2003 earlier than returning to Nepal.
– 2004: Life sentence –
Nicknamed the “Serpent” for his ability in slipping and sliding out of the judicial dragnet, Sobhraj returns to Nepal to arrange a scarf export firm underneath a false identification.
He’s rapidly recognised and arrested in Kathmandu for the 1975 murders of two vacationers, Canadian backpacker Laurent Armand Carriere and American Connie Joe Bronzich.
He receives a life sentence in August 2004.
– 2022: Free of jail –
On December 21, 2022, Nepal’s high court docket orders Sobhraj to be launched from jail on well being grounds.
He’s freed on December 23 and placed on a flight at Kathmandu airport to Doha en path to Paris, the place he lands early Saturday.
Whereas onboard his flight, he tells AFP he thinks he has been wrongly described as a serial killer.
