On Friday evening Nepal government released serial killer Charles Sobhraj from prison and sent him back to France after obtaining the necessary immigration clearance. Sobhraj, known as ‘Bikini Killer’ and ‘The Serpent’, was released from jail on Friday afternoon by order of the Supreme Court of Nepal.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of Sobraj for various reasons. Elaborate security was ensured when he was sent back to the Tribhuvan International Airport on Friday evening. He was sent back to the country on the condition that he could not return to Nepal for another 10 years, said the Immigration Department of Nepal.
The government issued a travel document prior to his deportation as he did not have a valid passport. On Wednesday, a joint bench of Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla and Justice Til Prasad Shrestha ordered his release, saying he should not go to jail in another case.
Arrangements will be made to repatriate Charles Sobhraj within 15 days. Sobhraj spent 19 years and 2 months in the Central Jail. Although he was supposed to be released on Thursday, due to paperwork and some other internal processes in the immigration department, his release was possible on Friday afternoon, said, officials.
In 1975, Sobhraj was wanted in Nepal by Nepalese police for the murder of Canadian women Laddie DuParr and an American woman named Annabella Tremont. In September 2003, the police arrested Sobhraj from a five-star hotel.
In March 1986, he escaped from Tihar Jail in Delhi, as he was likely to be extradited to Thailand. to face charges of murdering six bikini-clad girls on a beach in Pattaya. He was later arrested again in Goa in April 1986. After his release from prison in 1997, It is known that he lived quietly in France.
Sobhraj argues in his plea that he has already served 19 years in jail, and now he is 78 years old. Kathmandu and Bhaktapur district courts in Nepal convicted him in 1975 of murdering US and Canadian citizens. In 2014, the Bhaktapur District Court found him guilty of murdering a Canadian citizen.
Sobhraj had repeatedly filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court, demanding the leniency that senior citizens above 70 get released from jail.
He sent such applications, especially around Constitution Day, Democracy Day, and Republic Day hoping for a pardon from the President. However, the court rejected all his applications. He also underwent heart surgery.
