Only intellectuals." In those days visitors entered and left countries like Thailand, Hong Kong and Nepal with minimum official processing. But his first and abiding love was Chantal Compagnon, a French woman from a deeply conservative background. Yet almost 30 years later Sobhraj returned to Nepal and was arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years in jail. You were arrested in Nepal in 2003. "They couldn't help me because I was undercover.". Many sleep on the ground under the sky. anywhere in the world." If you haven't heard of his story, Sobhraj is a Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian descent who drugged, robbed, and murdered travelers going through Asia in the '70s. Now 76 years old, he is reportedly in poor health while serving a life sentence in Nepal. He was indeed released in. He was convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997. His is a dark and tragic story that lies between what he might have been and what he became, said Neville. But the rest was undoubtedly a product of his pathological imagination. Lets say only that meeting was in relation to some matter linked to Pakistan. It's a Secret: My Time with Charles Sobhraj, the Bikini Killer - Vice Sobhraj has always been provocative in his choice of lawyers. I dont want to say more about it. The book was published in 1979, after the Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian parentage had been on trial in India in 1977, when he thought the admission couldn't hurt him. It's debatable whether or not Sobhraj is a psychopath - he certainly doesn't seem constrained by an overdeveloped sense of empathy - but he is clearly not stupid, despite his prison record. That way, the previous ten journalist requests had been successfully steered into a dead end. The first thing he did when I knocked on the door was offer me an open bottle of Coke, which was also the way he had incapacitated many of his victims. He was a charismatic figure, fluent in several languages, and finely tuned to what budget travellers wanted. "He wrote back asking if it could fit into two suitcases. "If you use it to make people do wrong it's an abuse," he said. But there is even less doubt that Sobhraj committed the murders. For the poor Nepali inmates, its a question of survival life or death. I thought he was going to voice his anger but he just wanted my recommendation for a literary agent. He conducted numerous interviews and reportedly sold the rights to a movie about his life. OK, he said. He became a famous outlaw in India. 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I asked whether he'd be prepared to discuss the murders in this bestseller. They typically have a background in crime and they tend to select their victims from a particular social group or demographic. A foreign diplomat told me that the French embassy made no secret of its arrangement with Kathamandu Central Jail, in which the two institutions referred potential visitors back and forth to each other until they gave up. (Credit: Charles Sobhraj), Charles Sobhraj exclusive interview: I am going straight back to France to my family I hope to live for many years to come, Full list: UNDEF grants to civil society organisations with affiliation to OSF, In New Delhi, George Soros is old, dangerous and on a watchlist at UN, he isnt a problem, Indian Express-ICIJ Investigation: Govt welcomes Met offer to return antiques, works on next steps, Recalling the life and crimes of Bikini killer Charles Sobhraj, A brash fellow: retired cop who arrested Sobhraj recalls how he nabbed him at a Goa restaurant. Six years ago, when she just 20, Biswas married Sobhraj in a ceremony inside Kathamandu Central Jail. Pretty good. Netflix's 'The Serpent': The real story of Charles Sobhraj - Los In the interview, Sobhraj spoke about his arrest from a casino in Nepal in 2003, his stint in Delhis Tihar Jail between 1976 and 1997, and the book and movie releases that he was part of then. Sobhraj wanted payment for the interview but I refused and, to my surprise, he agreed to talk. I did, but there has been only silence. (In case those names don't sound familiar, they're renamed Willem and Helena in the series.) Sobhraj was represented by the infamous lawyer Jacques Vergs, nicknamed the devils advocate because his roster of clients included the Nazi Klaus Barbie, Slobodan Milosevic and the renowned international terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Nonetheless, even the police eventually took notice. She also became his accomplice in theft and murder and ended up in an Indian prison, and died of cancer four years after her release. ", The pair stayed in touch and in 2003, Sobhraj called Dhondy, who has a natural-sciences degree from Cambridge, to ask about red mercury. In Paris he told me that when it gets hot, I go to the kitchen. He talked of making money from his story, whose financial worth he lavishly -overvalued, and he also mentioned ambitions in film. Serial Killer Charles Sobhraj Tells AFP 'I Am Innocent' Sobhraj met his current Nepalese lawyer, Shakuntala Thapa, through her daughter, 24-year-old Nihita Biswas, who acted as his translator during one of the Frenchman's many appeals. The Midnight Hour: The Serpent (Charles Sobhraj) UTD TV 2.44K subscribers Subscribe 134K views 3 years ago This week in the season 2 premiere of The Midnight Hour, your fellow host proceeds to be. His first wife was once asked by an Indian journalist how she could have feelings for a killer. Sobhraj insisted that he had never been to Nepal before in his life. He is obsessed with preventing anyone from exploiting his life for financial gain and threatened to sue the writer. "Ask Nietzsche," he replied with a grin. Moreover, when I was released from India, the Indian government had asked Nepal whether I was wanted. Humanitarian work? According to Sobhraj, he aimed to double-cross both parties and enable the CIA to smash an international drug and arms deal between a terrorist organisation and a crime syndicate. ", Dhondy repeated the details that Sobhraj had told me in Kathmandu, the difference being that he had learned of them before Sobhraj went to prison. "I was looking to set up a heroin deal on behalf of the Taliban.". He told Neville that they were involved in drug dealing and he was working for a cartel, but this was nonsense.