Charles Sobhraj: The 'Bikini killer' who once ran his empire from Tihar
NEW DELHI: Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj, a french serial killer, often dubbed as 'The Serpent' or 'The Bikini Killer', is now a free man.
The 78-year-old, convicted for the murder of two North Americans, was finally released from the Kathmandu prison in Nepal after serving 19 years in jail.
Prior to his conviction in Kathmandu, Sobhraj was also convicted in India and had spent two decades in the country's high security -- Tihar Jail -- in Delhi where, officials who knew him, say that he used to "run an empire" from the prison.
Initial days
Sobhraj was born in Vietnam to an Indian man and a French mother. Before coming to India in the early 60s, he had been a delinquent teenager. Through minor crimes, he used to earn small amounts that even helped him to reach India but he returned soon.
After graduating in Science, Sobhraj again came back to India around 1967 and in November 1971, he was first time booked by the Delhi Police and nabbed near the diplomatic Chanakyapuri area of the city for not having a passport.
But Sobhraj was Sobhraj, the cunning man who even then fled from the police custody while he was being taken to a hospital for what was later understood to be a 'fake illness' -- one of his easiest tricks of all times.
This is how it all began and for the next 8-9 years, Charles, off-and-on kept frequenting the prison cells, several times.
Poisoning foreigners
Recalling the heinous crimes committed by Charles Sobhraj, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Amod Kanth who worked on the serial killer's case, while exclusively speaking to the New Indian Express, remembered him as a crook and a murderer.
The former IPS officer had joined the services in 1974 and later he was posted for his training period in the New Delhi district. Around the same period, Charles committed one of the most serious crimes by poisoning when he poisoned a group of French tourists residing at YMCA Delhi.
"He used to present himself as a charming man. He befriended foreigners, drugged and looted them. This was his modus operandi. As far as I know, he killed 22 people. He was a ruthless killer," Kanth said.
Later, a Delhi Court in October 1981, convicted Charles and sent him to rigorous imprisonment of five years. Then in 1986, what Charles did etched his name in the history of most cunning criminals of all times.
The Prison Break
Kanth says during the period Charles was incarcerated at the Tihar Prison, he formed bonds with every person there including some of the dreaded prisoners. "He made friends with everyone and practically controlled the prison. In real terms, he was running an empire from the Tihar jail," the former IPS officer said.
And then came a day in 1986 when Charles, after meticulous planning for years, fled from the highly secured Tihar Jail, however, was caught by the then DCP Kanth after 22 days from Goa.
Such was his hold on the Tihar Prison that Charles, carrying a country-made pistol and a grenade, meticulously planned his escape along with five other prisoners. On March 16, 1986, Charles, who had already procured more than 1000 larpoz (sleeping pills) tablets, mixed them with custard milk and some sweets and gave them to every person in the Tihar Jail who would have come in his way of escape.
Kanth, who is writing a book on all his prominent cases, precisely shared the details of the fateful day and the convicted killer's arrest. "When Charles escaped from Tihar, being DCP Crime Branch, the case was handed over to me and we began looking for his record in the Delhi Police dossier on him but there was hardly any information," Kanth said.
As per Kanth, more information about Charles was available in the books which were written on him like 'The Serpentine' which was published in 1979 or 'The Bikini murders'. "When he was in jail, he had himself generated these stories and given the information to the media about his exploits," he said.
To crack the case, first, the woozy Tihar Jail officials and some prisoners were questioned. "At last we got a clue that Charles was hiding in Mumbai in front of the railway station. I contacted the then DGP Maharashtra and one of the escapees, but not Charles, was caught," said Kanth.
Another one was caught by the Railway Police at a railway station in Mumbai. Their interrogation led the probe teams to Goa from where Charles was nabbed, exactly 22 days after he fled from Tihar.
Interrogation
Being a highly clever criminal, Kanth says that he brought Charles back to Delhi in a special aircraft provided by the Border Security Force (BSF).
"Media had given him too-much hype so to break his myths, I used to make him sit on the floor during interrogation. He was a manipulator and a crook," the former senior officer said. When asked about using any force to extract information, Kanth said, "Not at all. He was dead scared to get beaten up. I never used a third degree on him."