Serial Killer: Charles Sobhraj

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height




Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj HotchandBhawnani (born 6 April 1944) is a French serial killer,fraudster, and thief, who preyed on Western tourists traveling thehippie trail of South Asia during the 1970s. He was known as "theBikini Killer" due to the attire of several of his victims,as well as "the Splitting Killer" and "theSerpent", due to "his snake-like ability to avoiddetection by authorities". Sobhraj is currently imprisonedin Nepal.


It is thought that Sobhraj murdered atleast 20 tourists in South and Southeast Asia, including 14 inThailand. He was convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997.After his release, he retired, promoting his infamy in Paris. Sobhrajlater returned to Nepal in 2003, where he was arrested, tried, andreceived a life sentence.


Described as "handsome,charming and utterly without scruple", he used his looks andcunning to advance his criminal career and obtain celebrity status.He also enjoyed his infamy. Sobhraj has been the subject of fourbiographies, three documentaries, an Indian film titled Main AurCharles, and the 2021 eight-part BBC/Netflix drama series TheSerpent.


Early years


Sobhraj was born in Saigon to an Indianfather and Vietnamese mother. His parents were never married and hisfather denied paternity. Stateless at first, Sobhraj was taken in byhis mother's new husband, a French Army lieutenant stationed inFrench Indochina. There he felt neglected in favor of the couple'slater children. Sobhraj continued to move back and forth betweenSoutheast Asia and France with the family.


As a teenager, he began to commit pettycrimes; he received his first jail sentence for burglary in 1963,serving time at Poissy prison near Paris. While imprisoned, Sobhrajmanipulated prison officials into granting him special favors, suchas being allowed to keep books in his cell. Around the same time, hemet and endeared himself to Felix d'Escogne, a wealthy young man andprison volunteer.


After being paroled, Sobhraj moved inwith d'Escogne and spent his time moving between the high society ofParis and the criminal underworld. He began accumulating richesthrough a series of burglaries and scams. During this time, Sobhrajmet and began a romantic relationship with Chantal Compagnon, a youngParisian woman from a conservative family. Sobhraj proposed marriageto Compagnon, but was arrested later the same day for attempting toevade police while driving a stolen vehicle. He was sentenced toeight months in prison, yet Chantal remained supportive throughoutthe entirety of his sentence. Sobhraj and Compagnon were wed upon hisrelease.


Sobhraj, along with a pregnantCompagnon, left France in 1970 for Asia to escape arrest. Aftertraveling through Eastern Europe with fake documents, robbingtourists whom they befriended along the way, Sobhraj arrived inBombay (modern Mumbai) later the same year. Here, Chantal gave birthto a baby girl, Usha. In the meantime, Sobhraj resumed his criminallifestyle, running a car theft and smuggling operation. Sobhraj'sgrowing profits went towards his budding gambling addiction.


In 1973, Sobhraj was arrested andimprisoned after an unsuccessful armed robbery attempt on a jewelrystore at Hotel Ashoka. Sobhraj was able to escape, with Compagnon'shelp, by faking illness, but was recaptured shortly thereafter.Sobhraj borrowed money for bail from his father, and soon afterwardsfled to Kabul. There, the couple began to rob tourists on the hippietrail and were arrested again. Sobhraj escaped in the same way he hadin India, feigning illness and drugging the hospital guard. Sobhrajfled to Iran, leaving his family behind. Compagnon, though stillloyal to Sobhraj, wished to leave their criminal past behind andreturned to France, vowing never to see him again.


Sobhraj spent the next two years on therun, using as many as 10 stolen passports. He passed through variouscountries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Sobhraj was joinedby his younger half-brother, André, in Istanbul. Sobhraj and Andrébecame partners in crime, participating in various criminalactivities in both Turkey and Greece. The duo were eventuallyarrested in Athens. After an identity-switch hoax went awry, Sobhrajmanaged to escape but his half-brother was left behind. André wasturned over to the Turkish police by Greek authorities and served an18-year sentence.


Murders


On the run, Sobhraj financed hislifestyle by posing as either a gem salesman or drug dealer toimpress and befriend tourists, whom he defrauded. In India, Sobhrajmet Marie-Andrée Leclerc from Lévis, Quebec, a tourist looking foradventure. Dominated by Sobhraj, Leclerc became his most devotedfollower, turning a blind eye to his crimes and his philandering withlocal women.


Sobhraj gathered followers by gainingtheir loyalty; a typical scam was to help his target out of difficultsituations. In one case, he helped two former French policemen,Yannick and Jacques, recover missing passports that Sobhraj himselfhad actually stolen. In another scheme, Sobhraj provided shelter to aFrenchman, Dominique Renelleau, who appeared to be suffering fromdysentery; Sobhraj had actually poisoned him. He was joined by ayoung Indian man, Ajay Chowdhury, a fellow criminal who becameSobhraj's second-in-command.


Charles Sobhraj and Ajay Chowdhurycommitted their first known murders in 1975. Most of the victims hadspent some time with the pair before their deaths and were, accordingto investigators, recruited by Sobhraj and Chowdhury to join them intheir crimes. Sobhraj claimed that most of his murders were reallyaccidental drug overdoses, but investigators state that the victimshad threatened to expose Sobhraj, which was his motive for murder.The first victim was a young woman from Seattle, Teresa Knowlton(named Jennie Bollivar in the book Serpentine), who was found drownedin a tidal pool in the Gulf of Thailand, wearing a flowered bikini.It was months later that Knowlton's autopsy, as well as forensicevidence, proved that her drowning, originally believed to be aswimming accident, was murder.


The next victim was a young nomadicTurkish Sephardic Jew, Vitali Hakim, whose burnt body was found onthe road to the Pattaya resort, where Sobhraj and his growing clanwere staying. Dutch students Henk Bintanja, 29, and his fiancéeCocky Hemker, 25, were invited to Thailand after meeting Sobhraj inHong Kong. They, like many others, were poisoned by Sobhraj, whonursed them back to health in order to gain their obedience. As theyrecovered, Sobhraj was visited by his previous victim Hakim's Frenchgirlfriend, Charmayne Carrou, who had come to investigate herboyfriend's disappearance. Fearing exposure, Sobhraj and Chowdhuryquickly hustled Bintanja and Hemker out. Their bodies were foundstrangled and burned on 16 December 1975. Soon after, Carrou wasfound drowned and wearing a similar-styled swimsuit to that ofSobhraj's earlier victim, Teresa Knowlton. Although the murders ofthe two women were not connected by investigators at the time, theywould later earn Sobhraj the nickname "The Bikini Killer".


On 18 December, the day the bodies ofBintanja and Hemker were identified, Sobhraj and Leclerc enteredNepal using the deceased couple's passports. They met in Nepal and,between 21 and 22 December, murdered Canadian Laurent Carrière, 26,and American Connie Jo Bronzich, 29; the two victims were incorrectlyidentified by some sources as Laddie DuParr and Annabella Tremont.Sobhraj and Leclerc returned to Thailand, using their latest victims'passports before their bodies could be identified. Upon his return toThailand, Sobhraj discovered that his three French companions hadstarted to suspect him of serial murder, having found documentsbelonging to the murder victims. Sobhraj's former companions thenfled to Paris after notifying local authorities.


Sobhraj's next destination was eitherVaranasi or Calcutta, where he murdered Israeli scholar Avoni Jacobto obtain Jacob's passport. Sobhraj used the passport to travel withLeclerc and Chowdhury – first to Singapore, then to India, and, inMarch 1976, returning to Bangkok, despite knowing that theauthorities there sought him. The clan were interrogated by Thaipolice in connection with the murders, but were released.


Meanwhile, Dutch diplomat HermanKnippenberg and his then-wife Angela Kane were investigating themurders of Bintanja and Hemker. Knippenberg had some knowledge of,and had possibly even met, Sobhraj, although the latter's trueidentity was still unknown to the diplomat, who continued gatheringevidence. With the help of Nadine and Remi Gires (Sobhraj'sneighbours), Knippenberg built a case against him. He was eventuallygiven police permission to search Sobhraj's apartment, a full monthafter the suspect had left the country. Knippenberg found evidence,including victims' documents and passports, as well as poisons andsyringes.


The criminal trio's next stop wasMalaysia, where Chowdhury was sent to steal gems. Chowdhury wasobserved delivering the gems to Sobhraj. This was the last time hewas ever seen; neither Chowdhury nor his remains were ever found. Itis believed Sobhraj murdered his former accomplice before leavingMalaysia to continue his and Leclerc's roles as gem dealers inGeneva. A source later claimed to have sighted Chowdhury in WestGermany, but the claim appeared unsubstantiated, so the search forChowdhury continued.


Back in Asia, Sobhraj started forming anew criminal group, starting with two Western women, Barbara Smithand Mary Ellen Eather, in Bombay. Sobhraj's next victim was aFrenchman, Jean-Luc Solomon who was poisoned during a robbery. Theact was committed with intention of incapacitating Solomon, but itleft him dead.


In July 1976 in New Delhi, Sobhraj,joined by his three-woman criminal clan, tricked a tour group ofFrench post-graduate students into accepting them as tour guides.Sobhraj drugged them by giving them poisoned pills, which he toldthem were anti-dysentery medicine. When the drugs took effect morequickly than Sobhraj had anticipated, the students began to fallunconscious. Three of the students, realizing what Sobhraj had done,overpowered him and contacted the police, leading to his capture.During interrogation, Sobhraj's accomplices, Smith and Eather,buckled and confessed. Sobhraj was charged with the murder of Solomonand all four were sent to Tihar Jail in New Delhi.

Prison time


Smith and Eather attempted suicide inprison during the two years before their trial. Sobhraj, who hadentered with precious gems concealed in his body and was experiencedin bribing captors, was living comfortably in jail. He turned histrial into a spectacle, hiring and firing lawyers at will, bringingin his recently paroled brother André to assist, and eventuallygoing on a hunger strike. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.Leclerc was found guilty of drugging the French students, but waslater paroled and returned to Canada when she developed ovariancancer. She was still claiming her innocence and was reportedly stillloyal to Sobhraj when she died at her home in April 1984. She was 38.


Sobhraj's systematic bribery of prisonguards at Tihar reached outrageous levels. He led a life of luxuryinside the jail, with television and gourmet food, having befriendedboth guards and prisoners. He gave interviews to Western authors andjournalists, such as Oz magazine's Richard Neville in 1977 and AlanDawson in 1984. Neville was accompanied by his future wife, JulieClarke, who has frequently written about the subject. Clarke has saidthat Sobhraj sold the rights to his life story to a Bangkokbusinessman, who sold them on to Random House. Because of Neville'shippie trail connections, Random House offered him a contract to goto Delhi to research the case, even though he and Clarke, bothjournalists in New York City, had no experience in crime reporting.They were out of their depth, having to deal with Sobhraj's 'creepyemissaries' who kept them under surveillance, and arranged for themto visit him in prison, where he described the murders in detail.Clarke was very relieved when they left Delhi.


Although Sobhraj had freely talked toNeville and Clarke about his murders, he later denied everything hehad told them, and pretended his actions were in retaliation against"Western imperialism" in Asia.


Sobhraj's prison sentence in India wasdue to end before the 20-year Thai statute of limitations expired,ensuring his extradition and almost certain execution for murder inThailand. So in March 1986, in his tenth year in prison, Sobhrajthrew a big party for his guards and fellow inmates, drugged themwith sleeping pills and walked out of the jail. Inspector MadhukarZende of the Mumbai police apprehended Sobhraj in O'CoqueiroRestaurant in Goa; his prison term was extended by ten years, just ashe had hoped. On 17 February 1997, 52-year-old Sobhraj was releasedwith most warrants, evidence, and even witnesses against him longlost. Without any country to extradite him to, Indian authorities lethim return to France.


Celebrity and re-capture


Sobhraj retired to a comfortable lifein suburban Paris. He charged large sums of money for interviews andphotographs. The rights to a movie based on his life were sold forover US$15 million.


In 2003, Sobhraj returned to Nepal, oneof the few countries where he could still be arrested and where hewas still eagerly sought by authorities. According to The HimalayanTimes, Sobhraj had returned to Kathmandu to set up a mineral waterbusiness. His return is thought to have been the result of hisyearning for attention and overconfidence in his own intellect.


On 1 September 2003, Sobhraj wasspotted by a journalist for The Himalayan Times in a casino inKathmandu. The journalist followed him for two weeks and wrote a newsreport in The Himalayan Times with photographs. The Nepalese policesaw the report, raided the casino and arrested an unaware Sobhraj,who was still gambling there. The police reopened the double murdercase from 1975. Sobhraj was later sentenced to life imprisonment bythe Kathmandu district court on 20 August 2004 for the murders ofBronzich and Carrière.


Most of the photocopy evidence usedagainst him in this case had been gathered by Knippenberg, the Dutchdiplomat, his then-wife Angela Kane and Interpol. Sobhraj appealedagainst the conviction, claiming he had been sentenced without trial.His lawyer announced that Chantal Compagnon, Sobhraj's wife inFrance, was filing a case before the European Court of Human Rightsagainst the French government for refusing to provide him with anyassistance.


Post-2007


In late 2007, news media reported thatSobhraj's lawyer had appealed to then-French president NicolasSarkozy for intervention with Nepal. In 2008, Sobhraj announced hisengagement to a Nepali woman, Nihita Biswas, who later participatedin the reality show Bigg Boss. The authenticity of the couple'srelationship was confirmed in an open letter from American conductorDavid Woodard to The Himalayan Times. On 7 July 2008, issuing a pressrelease through his fiancée Biswas, Sobhraj claimed he was neverconvicted of murder by any court, and asked the media not to refer tohim as a serial killer.


It was claimed that Sobhraj married hisfiancée on 9 October 2008 in jail during Bada Dashami, a Nepalesefestival. The following day, Nepalese jail authorities dismissed theclaim of his marriage. They said that Biswas and her family had beenallowed to conduct a tika ceremony, along with the relatives ofhundreds of other prisoners. They further claimed that it was not awedding but part of the ongoing Dashain festival, when elders put thevermilion mark on the foreheads of those younger than them to signifytheir blessings.


In July 2010, the Supreme Court ofNepal postponed the verdict on an appeal filed by Sobhraj against adistrict court's verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment for themurder of American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. Sobhraj hadappealed against the Kathmandu district court's verdict in 2006,calling it unfair.


On 30 July 2010, the Supreme Courtupheld the life sentence issued by the district court for the murderof Connie Jo Bronzich, plus another year and a Rs2,000 fine forentering Nepal illegally. The seizure of all Sobhraj's properties wasalso ordered by the court. Sobhraj's supposed wife Biswas andmother-in-law Shakuntala Thapa, a lawyer, expressed dissatisfactionwith the verdict, with Thapa claiming that Sobhraj had been deniedjustice and that the "judiciary is corrupt". Theywere charged and sent to judicial custody for contempt of courtbecause of these remarks.


On 18 September 2014, Sobhraj wasconvicted in the Bhaktapur district court of the 1975 murder ofCanadian tourist Laurent Carrière. In 2018, Sobhraj was in criticalcondition and had been operated on multiple times. He had receivedseveral open heart surgeries and was scheduled for more. As of April2021, he remains in a Nepalese jail, aged 77 and in poor health.


Personal life


In 2010, he married his Indian-Nepaliinterpreter, Nihita Biswas, in prison. The daughter of his lawyer,she was 20 years old and 44 years his junior. One of his jailers toldParis Match in 2021: "It's a legend; there is no proof oftheir union". She told the media that his gaze and his eyeswere mesmerizing and that his French charm had done everything; in2017, she gave him blood to save him during an open heart operation.


Portrayal


Sobhraj has been the subject of threenon-fiction books, Serpentine (1979) by Thomas Thompson, The Life andCrimes of Charles Sobhraj (1980) by Richard Neville and Julie Clarke,and the section titled "The Bikini Murders" by NoelBarber in the Reader's Digest collection, Great Cases of Interpol(1982). Neville and Clarke's book was the basis for a 1989made-for-TV film, Shadow of the Cobra.


The 2015 Hindi film Main Aur Charles,directed by Prawaal Raman and Cyznoure Network, is reportedly basedon Charles Sobhraj's escape from Tihar Jail in New Delhi. The filmwas initially produced by Pooja Bhatt, but due to disagreementsduring the shoot, Bhatt left the film.


An eight-part BBC commissionedminiseries called The Serpent was broadcast in the UK in January2021, starring Tahar Rahim as Sobhraj, before being streamed onNetflix in April 2021.


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net