u201cSobhraj has been released from the jail. He has been handed over to the immigration department. The officials at the immigration department informed that he would be deported to France soon, as early as today,u201d Ishwari Prasad Pandey, an official at Nepal Central prison said.
He was dubbed the bikini killer in Thailand, and the serpent, for his evasion of police and use of disguises, and he has been the subject of several dramatizations, including a Netflix and BBC joint production released last year, and Randeep Hooda starrer 2015 movie Main or Charles.
Image credit: Netflix. Born in French-administered Saigon, Vietnam to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj was first jailed in Paris in 1963 for burglary but went on to be accused of committing crimes in a list of countries: France, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Thailand and Malaysia. He also escaped from prison in several countries, and his ability of evading the authorities earned him the nickname u201cThe Serpent.u201dSobhraj eventually admitted to at least 12 of his alleged killings between 1972 and 1976, and hinted at others to interviewers before retracting the confessions ahead of further court cases, according to his biographers. His true number of victims is unknown.In 2014, a Nepali court convicted Sobhraj for the 1975 murder of Canadian tourist Laurent Carriu00e8re, handing down a 20-year sentence.The 2021 BBC/Netflix drama called u201cThe Serpentu201d was released. It tells how for years, he evaded the law across Asia as he allegedly drugged, robbed and murdered backpackers along the so-called u201chippie trailu201d u2013 while former Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg worked hard with authorities to capture him.
