New Delhi: The Nepal Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of serial killer Charles Sobhraj on the grounds of his age, after the French man spent 19 years in jail.
The top court also ordered his deportation to France within 15 days of release.
Hearing a writ of habeas corpus, a joint bench of judges Sapna Malla Pradhan and Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the 78-year-old’s release from the capital’s central jail, The Kathmandu Post reported.
Sobhraj, a French citizen of Vietnamese and Indian parentage, committed many murders in South Asia in the 1970s, preying on the hippie trail.
He served 21 years – from 1976 to 1997 — in an Indian prison for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli national.
After his release, Sobhraj went back to France, but returned to Nepal after six years. He was re-arrested in Kathmandu in 2003 after being spotted in a casino.
Nepal’s apex court sentenced him to life in prison for murdering American citizens Connie Joe Bronzich, 29, and his Canadian girlfriend Laurent Carriere, 26, in 1975.
He was also charged with using a fake passport to enter Nepal.
It is believed that Sobhraj has murdered at least 20 foreign tourists, including 14 in Thailand. He was known as the “bikini killer” since two of his victims were found in their swimsuits.
Also read: Murders of 3 watchmen in MP evoke memories of Raman Raghav & other ‘serial…