The strange life and crimes of escape-artist Charles Sobhraj, now back in France

Charles Sobhraj (78) arrived in France on Saturday morning, after being released and deported from Nepal. Known variously as a serial killer, bikini killer and ‘serpent’, he had famously claimed that he could smuggle an elephant past Nepalese Customs at the airport. A ‘escape artist’, he had escaped from New Delhi’s high security Tihar Jail in the 1980s and was eventually arrested from Goa.

In his first interview to French news agency AFP in Kathmandu after his release on Friday, Sobhraj claimed he was innocent and declared that he would sue those, including the Nepal Government, who were responsible for his incarceration. Sobhraj was arrested in 2003 from a casino and charged with the murder of two American tourists. He was 58 years old at the time.

Born to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother, he grew up in France with his step-fathers.  His textile trader father, who had a garment shop in Vietnam, married his mother, a street child, in 1943 and Charles was born the next year. On a visit to India, however, the father later claimed, he was forced to marry an Indian woman. The Indo-Vietnamese love story thus came to an end  and the couple separated.

The young Vietnamese mother later married a French army lieutenant and delieverd three children before he was called back. While the couple moved to France, Charles was left behind in Saigon with his natural father. On a visit to Vietnam, his mother saw that her first-born child was being neglected and decided to take him back to France with her.

Unhappy and missing his life in Vietnam, resentful of his parents, the teenager began committing petty crime and repeatedly got arrested. In 1963, he was arrested for burglary and sent to the Poissy prison near Paris. He persuaded jail authorities to supply him books on literature and foreign languages. He also befriended Felix d’Escogne, a prison volunteer and a wealthy Parisian, with whom he stayed whenever released on parole. In prison he was exposed to the underworld and while living on parole, he got exposed to Parisian high society.

He charmed people he met with his knowledge of literature and with his grace. He was however in constant need of money and is said to have continued engaging in his favourite crimes—robbing tourists and breaking into houses. He met Chantal Compagnon, a young and wealthy Parisian girl, who fell in love with him and they eventually got married.

In 1970, Charles and Chantal travelled to Mumbai, where he started selling stolen European cars. “Robbing tourists and stealing jewellery in India didn’t amount to much. So, he gambled more often and staked more money. He then zeroed in on ‘hippies’ flocking to India for a spiritual high. It seemed easier to befriend the young backpackers and rob them.

In the early 1970s he planned to conduct an armed robbery in Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi. His eyes were set on a jewellery shop with gleaming gems on display. Though he was apprehended and imprisoned, he feigned an attack of acute appendicitis, got admitted in Willingdon hospital, drugged the guard and escaped. Both he and his wife were caught at the railway station and sent back to prison.

After they were released from prison, the couple moved to Kabul, where hashish was found in abundance. He is believed to have robbed a number of tourists before he was caught for non-payment of hotel bills. He escaped again, leaving his wife behind. Disillusioned, she finally went back to France to be with her daughter.

Charles didn’t mind. His carefree and luxurious life with women and  weed continued. He travelled across borders with fake passports.  His exceptional knowledge of drugs and languages came in handy. In 1974 he was arrested in Greece and yet escaped from his island prison.

‘The police may wish to keep me in prison throughout my life. But they can never defeat my will to be free,’ he was quoted as saying in Richard Neville’s book, The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj.

In his first interview in Kathmandu after his release on Friday this week, he said he had a lot to do. Writing a book , a first-person-account, and film rights is almost certainly high on his priority. So, watch out for what he is up to next.