Serial killer Charles Sobhraj Released: Know Why He Was Called 'Bikini Killer'

Nepal's apex court ordered the release of French serial killer Charles Sobhraj from jail over his health condition and age. Sobhraj is now 78 years old. On the bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha on December 21 ordered to release of Sobhraj from jail stating he was in need of open heart surgery.

Charles Sobhraj is a French citizen with Vietnamese and Indian roots. Sobhraj was sentenced for committing a string of murders throughout Asia in the 1970s. Sobhraj was arrested in the Nepali capital Kathmandu by Police. Nepali jail housed him since 2003, the reported serial killer filed a petition demanding exemption on his lifetime term on the ground of old age. Sobhraj told AFP, " I am innocent in those cases, ok? So I don't have to feel bad for that, or good. I am innocent. It was built on fake documents."  

The alleged serial killer murdered 20 people. He served 21 years in jail in India for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli national. He was also jailed for killing two Americans in Nepal. Sobhraj is also known as Bikini Killer. 

Bikini Killer Charles Sobhraj

Sobhraj became a Bikini killer after allegedly killing a young woman wearing a bikini in October 1975, whose body was found on a Thai beach in Pattaya. Reported he used his victims' passports for mysterious trips linked to the trade in precious stones and drugs.

Similarly, it is believed, several of his victims wore the same attire, that is how he got the name. Sobhraj committed petty crimes and went on to build a career in it. He had many murders under his name. Charmayne Carrou came to investigate her boyfriend's disappearance allegedly murdered by Sobhraj. Next, you see Carrou was found drowned, who also wore a similar-styled swimsuit to that of Sobhraj's earlier victim, Teresa Knowlton. He is also called the Splitting Killer and Serpent for his snake-like ability to escape authorities. 

Sobhraj used deceased passports to travel to different destinations. Every place he went be it Singapore, India, or Nepal he used fake passports. 

Sobhraj was born in Saigon on April 6, 1944, to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother. The mother later remarried a Frenchman. He committed petty crimes and was well acquainted with the underworld of Paris. He received his first custodial sentence for burglary in 1963. He is arrested in India after trying to drug a group of more than 20 French tourists in a New Delhi hotel, and given a life sentence for the 1976 murder of an Israeli tourist. The list goes on and on of his crime. However, now he is set free. 

 Suggested Reading- A Woman King, Petite Maman Make It To Barack Obama's List Of Favorite Films 2022