INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 23Twin-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.
Serpent' released from prison, sent to immigration department for deportation
French serial killer Charles Sobhraj to leave Nepal prison
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.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com