‘Bikini Killer’ Charles Sobhraj walks out of Nepal jail; a look at serial killer’s first photo after release

French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who is also known as the Serpent or the Bikini Killer, has finally been released from Nepalese jail on order of the Nepal Supreme Court. The serial killer walked out of jail and is now set to be extradited to France.

After spending over 19 years in jail in Nepal, the Supreme Court ordered the release of Charles Sobhraj, who has been deemed responsible for a string of murders in the 70s and 80s. Sobhraj used to use his “handsome looks” and “charm” to lure his victims.

A French national who was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj, 78, landed at Paris' main international airport shortly after 7 a.m. and was escorted off the plane by police for identity checks, as per Reuters report.

First photo of Charles Sobhraj after he was released from Nepal prison - 

(Photo credits - AFP)

Charles Sobhraj, who was also dubbed as the ‘Bikini Killer’ because of two of his murder victims, has killed as many as 20 tourists in South Asia, according to reports. The serial killer used to attract his victims by showing off his apparent wealth, after which he drugged and robbed them, eventually killing them.

"He is well, he is a free man," Sobhraj's lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre told Reuters. Asked what his next steps would be, she said: "He will file a legal complaint against Nepal because the whole case against him was fabricated."

Sobhraj had been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003 when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was later found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, and served 19 years out of a 20-year sentence.

According to AFP reports, Charles Sobhraj will be “suing a lot of people” now that he had walked out of Nepal jail as a free man. He has alleged that the whole case against him was fake. Meanwhile, the authorities of Thailand and Nepal had previously described Sobhraj as a con artist, a seducer, a robber, and a murderer.

(With Reuters inputs)

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