He was a Frenchman. On December 16, 1975, the couples bodies were found strangled and burned. 2000 for illegally entering Nepal, and seizure of all his property. According to The Himalayan Times, Sobhraj had returned to Kathmandu to set up a mineral water business. In 1963, Sobhraj went to jail for the first time, charged with burglary at Poissy prison near Paris. Charles was a disobedient and unruly child, but smart and charismatic at the same time. In July, they travelled to Bangkok where they found a third accomplice in an Indian named Ajay Chowdhury. [17][13], Sobhraj's prison sentence in India was due to end before the 20-year Thai statute of limitations expired, ensuring his extradition and almost certain execution for murder in Thailand. Charles Sobhraj is popular for his hold over women, both in and out of jail. Sobhraj spent the next six years in Paris where he employed a publicity agent and charged a considerable amount of money for interviews and photographs. Soon, Charles asked Compagnon to marriage, and eight months after his proposal, Charles and Compagnon got married. Charles next two years were spent running away from authorities; he used stolen passports and traveled to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The first victim was a young woman from Seattle, Teresa Knowlton (named Jennie Bollivar in the book Serpentine), who was found drowned in a tidal pool in the Gulf of Thailand, wearing a flowered bikini. In 1986, he drugged the prison officials and other inmates in a party that he himself had organised and casually walked out of one of the most secure prisons in India. Charles Sobhraj was finally caught in Delhi in July 1976, after three French students escaped his attempt to poison them and informed the police, who charged him for the murder of Solomon. Charles Sobhraj being taken away to Tihar Jail in Delhi. Upon his return to Thailand, Charles followers (Yannick, Jacques, and Rennelleau) grew suspicious of him after they discovered Pattaya victims documents at Charles apartment; they reported Charles to the police. Sobhraj's early life. In Kashmir, India, he met Marie-Andre Leclerc who was looking for adventure. After getting paroled, Charles accompanied Felix to high society life while involving himself with the Parisian underworld (committing a series of burglaries and scams). Sobhraj and Compagnon were married upon his release. You can not be in an apartment and there are people who are chained in your apartment without seeing them. The group grew even larger as more people joined in, drawn by Sobhrajs enigmatic personality. One of his early crimes includes him convincing his half-brother (Andre) to rob a shopkeeper. On the other hand, Farrukh said, Sobhrajs threat is an attempt at blackmail and extortion., Charles Sobhrajs statue at O Coqueiro restaurant. Chantal gave birth to a baby girl, Usha, in the city. He, too, grew up with his brother. Sobhraj escaped in the same way he had in India, feigning illness and drugging the hospital guard. In 1973, he was arrested and imprisoned after an unsuccessful armed robbery at a jewelry store at Hotel Ashoka, Delhi. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/charles-sobhraj-11624.php. Sobhraj and Chowdhury committed their first known murders in 1975. Fearing exposure, Sobhraj and Chowdhury quickly hustled Bintanja and Hemker out. In Athens, Sobhraj and his brother were arrested; Sobhraj was able to flee but his brother was left behind and served his 18-year prison sentence. Andr was extradited to Turkey where he served 18 months in jail. His life as a criminal began quite early as well. In 1971, Charles and his family fled to Kabul, where he established contacts for illegal gun smuggling. [8][9] On 23 December, he was released and deported to France.[10]. The next day, the claims were dismissed by the Nepalese jail authorities, stating that Nihita and Charles performed a tika ceremony as a part of Bada Dashami. They said that Biswas and her family had been allowed to conduct a tika ceremony, along with the relatives of hundreds of other prisoners. CHARLES SOBHRAJ'S EARLY YEARS . In 2005, the Patan Appellate Court confirmed Sobhrajs sentence. For the next two years, he was on run from authorities, using stolen passports and traveling to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. With an intention to steal from him, Charles drugged him and left him dying at a South Delhi Hotel. As a result, he was considered stateless until his mothers boyfriend, a French lieutenant serving in Indochina, adopted him. "The puppet master would manipulate somebody to get at someone else. In the meantime, Sobhraj resumed his criminal life, running a car theft and smuggling operation. He also controlled people by the methods devised by the philosopher and psychologist Ren Le Senne. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Most of Charles Sobhraj's victims were discovered along Southeast Asia's Hippie Trail. He broke up with Desnoyers to marry Compagnon. According to Farrukh. Sobhraj's supposed wife Biswas and mother-in-law Shakuntala Thapa, a lawyer, expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict, with Thapa claiming that Sobhraj had been denied justice and that the "judiciary is corrupt". Upon his return to France, he led a comfortable life in suburban Paris. [13], Sobhraj, along with a pregnant Compagnon, left France in 1970 for Asia to escape arrest. According to rumors, the assassin had met Charles before the incident and the assassination was plotted by Charles. He is a French citizen with dual nationality. During the promotions of the book, Farrukh confessed that he was associated with Charles Sobhraj, who was once (Sobhraj) friends with Masood Azhar (the founder of the Islamic terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)). In 1964, Charles and Desnoyers welcomed their son, Pranck. Even though Charles relationship with his parents wasnt great in the years that followed, he kept in touch with them. Sobhraj, who had entered with precious gems concealed in his body and was experienced in bribing captors, was living comfortably in jail. Sobhraj was born in Saigon to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother. While Sobhraj fled Athens, his brother was handed over to Afgan authorities and he (Andre) served his 18-year prison sentence. There are many books written on the life of Charles; Serpentine (1979) by Thomas Thompson; The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj (1980) by Richard Neville and Julie Clarke, reissued as On the Trail of the Serpent; The Bikini Murders by Noel Barber in the Readers Digest collection Great Cases of Interpol (1982). A woman who was killed by strangling in Bangkok. In India, Sobhraj met Marie-Andre Leclerc from Lvis, Quebec, a tourist looking for adventure. Initially thought to be a suicide, it was only after an autopsy and forensic evidence that foul play was suspected. [17][13], Sobhraj retired to a comfortable life in suburban Paris. Charles Sobhrajs trial was a sight-worth-watching with Charles hiring and firing lawyers at will, bringing his paroled brother (Andre) to assist him, and putting on a hunger strike. After that, Masood became very dependent on Sobhraj. Who Was Charles Sobhraj's Biological Father? He then traveled to Nepal with an excuse to set up a mineral water business and make a documentary on Nepalese culture. At one end of the building an overturned bus, charred inside and out, housed a large family of vicious monkeys, excitedly . Their bodies were found strangled and burned on 16 December 1975. In July 2010, Nepals Supreme Court postponed the verdict of appeal filed by Charles (on the district courts conviction). Charles had come to scam Marie, but she soon became one of her biggest accomplices in his crimes. Charles Sobhraj Parents, Father, Mother, Dad, Mom Charles Sobhraj Wiki, Biography, Wikipedia, Bio, Early-Life, Education, Career In his teens, he was baptized as a Catholic and was renamed Charles Gurmukh Sobhraj in the church records. After the journey, Marie became the biggest accomplice in his crimes. [5]Independent jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4037_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4037_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); [6]Scroll.in jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4037_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4037_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); His father, Sobhraj Hatchard Bavani, was an Indian tailor, moneylender, and owner of two tailoring shops. Charles Sobhraj with his daughter Muriel Anouk. Thats how police identified the victim as Connie Bronzich. In 2018, Charles Sobhraj was in critical condition and was operated on multiple times; he has received several open-heart surgeries. [38][39], On 21 December 2022, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered his release from prison because of his old age, after serving 19 years his prison term. Charles loves reading and writing. Sobhraj went back to the criminal life afterwards. In 1970, Charles and Chantal arrived in Mumbai, where Charles decided to quit crime for his wife and children. He was joined by a young Indian man, Ajay Chowdhury, a fellow criminal who became Sobhraj's second-in-command.[16][21]. He was arrested on 19 September in the Yak and Yeti hotels casino. His first addition was Marie-Andre Leclerc, who was spellbound by Charles and became his biggest accomplice in crimes. In his teenage, Charles Sobhraj began committing small crimes. He even involved his family in gambling. On the other hand, Farrukh said, Sobhrajs threat is an attempt at blackmail and extortion., Charles Sobhrajs statue at O Coqueiro restaurant, Tahar Rahim as Charles Sobhraj in The Serpent (2021). Photo by REX USA. [33], It was claimed that Sobhraj married his fiance on 9 October 2008 in prison during the Bada Dashami festival. Meanwhile, Dutch diplomats Herman Knippenberg and Angela Kane (his then-wife) were investigating the Pattaya murders and began building a case against Charles. It was around this time, he was considered to have a curio shop in Bangkok, where Charles lured his victims and stole their belonging by drugging; sometimes the victims died by drug overdose. It was around this time that Charles turned to crime, starting with theft. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of Nepal on July 30, 2010. The criminal trio's next stop was Malaysia, where Chowdhury was sent to steal gems. After he was paroled, he went on to accompany Felix, juggling between high society life in Paris (introduced by Felix) and the Parisian underworld (committing a series of burglaries and scams). But when Charles was 4-years-old, his father abandoned the family and subsequently tied the knot with an Indian woman. Women mostly found themselves captivated by his piercing gaze, muscular build, confidence, and dangerous reputation. On the run, Sobhraj financed his lifestyle by posing as either a gem salesman or drug dealer to impress and befriend tourists, whom he defrauded. Charles Sobhraj after his release from Tihar Jail. In Thailand, he came with an idea to start his criminal family/clan. Prince William moves his father Charles to tears after revealing this horrifying secret of Charles. They cant prove I have been to Nepal before. All rights reserved. According to a source, Charles Sobhraj is a non-drinker and non-smoker. He has received several open-heart surgeries. One of the most notorious and ruthless serial killers of all time, Sobhraj is fluent in multiple languages, including French, Hindi, and Vietnamese. [14] While in Poissy prison, he met a prison volunteer named Felix dEscogne, a young man with connections to high society personnel in Paris. Life Of Charles Sobhraj, The 'Bikini Killer' A Timeline The morning fog was dense. Their second victim Vitali Hakims burnt body was discovered on the road near Pattaya resort, where Sobhraj and his group was staying at the time. Marie-Andree, who was found guilty of drugging French students and Jacobs murder, was sentenced to twelve years in prison. But if were honest, with The Serpent mentioning that Charles was just like his father, were now curious to know more about the latter. However, Charles Sobhraj wasnt, and still seems not to be, a fan of his father, which he made clear during his interviews with Richard Neville for his book The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj., In a letter to his father, as detailed in the book, Charles wrote, It is really unfortunate that you are my father. Sobhraj, who was dissatisfied with the lead characters resemblance [in the book] to him, said that the author had no right to base his character on him and would sue him (the author). Because of Neville's hippie trail connections, Random House offered him a contract to go to Delhi to research the case, even though he and Clarke, both journalists in New York City, had no experience in crime reporting. Charles Sobhraj was a killer, by his own admission Sobhraj, born in 1944 to a Vietnamese mother and Indian father, was a scam artist and a killer. In 1964, Chantal Desnoyers and Charles became parents to their first child, a boy named Pranck. A news article talking about Charles murders in Thailand. [5] He was convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997. In one case, he helped the French policemen Yannick and Jacques recover their passports, which he had stolen earlier. As a result, he has a mixed (Vietnamese and Indian) ethnic origin. Charles Sobhraj Age. In prison, Charles discussed his murders with Clark and Neville and said, If I have ever killed, or have ordered killings, then it was purely for reasons of business, just a job, like a general in the army., An old picture of Richard Neville and Julie Clarke. The three students overpowered Charles and the women and helped in his capture. Back in Bombay, Sobhraj wished to create a new criminal group and began by adding Barbara Smith and Mary Ellen Eather in his gang. Two of his most popular names were Alain Gauthier and Robert Grainer. The Nepalese police saw the report, raided the casino and arrested an unaware Sobhraj, who was still gambling there. Motive Charles Sobraj Crime Library Charles is known to have killed more than 20 people in his lifetime and only a few of them are known. In 1970, Sobhraj left France with his pregnant wife, Compagnon. At his apartment in Bangkok, he had a pet monkey named Coco. And as Sobhraj, a prosperous light-skinned Indian, who made his fortune as a tailor and as a money lender in Vietnam, has preferred to stay out of the limelight, details about his current whereabouts, health, and doings are a bit murky. The victim was an American woman named Teresa Knowlton. His next significant partner in crime was Andr, his brother, who joined him in Istanbul. In prison, he made sure that he was provided with books. As of April 2021, Charles is in a Nepali prison in poor health condition. Aja delivered the gems to Charles, which was the last sight of Ajay. 2. His parents were never married and his father denied paternity. He ran away from place to place with his family and ransacked travelers on the hippie trail between Europe and Eastern Asia. Charles Sobhraj (born Hotchand Bhawnani Gurmukh Sobhraj, 6 April 1944) is a serial killer, fraudster, and thief, who preyed on Western tourists travelling on the hippie trail of South Asia during the 1970s. They issued an Interpol notice - and that, says . He fired and hired lawyers at will, brought his paroled brother (Andre) to assist him, and went on a hunger strike. Sobhraj began to make money through burglaries, scams and smuggling. Why so? Sobhraj, who was given his nickname for his evasion of police, had been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering the American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was always absent from his school due to which his grades suffered. In 1975, Charles moved to Thailand, where he embraced gem selling and drug dealing. Serial killer Charles Sobhraj's daughter has been working as a US Within days, the Bangkok Post printed an explosive front-page story headlined: "Web of Death.". Hotchand Bhawnani Gurmukh Sobhraj was born on 6 April 1944 in Saigon, within the Indochinese Union, to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother. He gave several interviews where the murders came up in conversations, but he never admitted to them. Stateless at first, Sobhraj was taken in by his mother's new husband, a French Army lieutenant posted in French Indochina. I arrived here with my own passport under my real name. Her mother soon found a lover in Lieutenant Alphonse Darreau, an officer in the French army in French Indochina, and they both got married. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Apart from the names that Charles used in his lifetime, most of the names were from the passports he stole. By the time, his sentence was about to end in India, the Thai arrest warrant was still valid. Growing up, he was a student of the book The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzsche; the book made him understand people and his victims. [28], Although Sobhraj had freely talked to Neville and Clarke about his murders, he later denied everything he had told them, and pretended his actions were in retaliation against "Western imperialism" in Asia. [30], On 1 September 2003, Sobhraj was spotted by a journalist for The Himalayan Times in a casino in Kathmandu. On August 20, 2004, the Kathmandu District Court convicted Charles for the murders of Bronzich and Carrire and gave him a life imprisonment sentence. According to a source, Zende walked out to Charles, grabbed his arm, and said. Charles was sentenced to twelve years in prison for murdering Avoni Jacob and Jean-Luc Solomon, the two people he killed in India. In his teens, Charles met Chantal Desnoyers in Paris. As a teenager, he began to commit petty crimes; he received his first custodial sentence for burglary in 1963, serving his sentence at Poissy prison near Paris. Charles is an avid reader and writer. The day he proposed Chantal for marriage, he was sent to Poissy prison, charged for car theft. I came to Nepal to make a documentary. [44], The 2015 Hindi film Main Aur Charles, directed by Prawaal Raman and Cyznoure Network, is reportedly based on Charles Sobhraj's escape from Tihar Jail in New Delhi. The con was a success as foreign tourists were lured, converted to his followers, and later Charles stole from them. Hotchand Bhawnani Gurmukh Sobhraj was born on 6 April 1944 in Saigon, within the Indochinese Union, to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother. The act was committed with the intention of incapacitating Solomon, but it killed him.[18]. Charles Sobhraj Family. In Tihar Jail in Delhi, he had a library for himself. It was months later that Knowlton's post-mortem, as well as forensic evidence, proved that her drowning, originally believed to be a swimming accident,[23] was murder. His first victim in Thailand was Teresa Knowlton (also named Jennie Bollivar in some sources), a Seattle-based woman who was found drowned in the tidal pool in the Gulf of Thailand; she wore a floral bikini. A French national who was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj, 78, landed at Paris's main international airport on a commercial flight shortly after 7am. After an identity-switch hoax went awry, Sobhraj managed to escape but his half-brother was left behind. [7] On 21 December 2022, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered his release from prison because of his old age, after he had served 19 years of his prison term. He was expected to be sentenced to death but received a 12-year imprisonment instead. Without any country to extradite him to, Indian authorities let him return to France. 2000 for illegally entering Nepal, and seizure of all his property. Since no country wanted to take him in, Indian authorities decided to return Charles to France. It was quiet as a grave. Having no warrant, evidence or even witnesses against him, the Indian government let him go back to France. In one case, he helped two former French policemen, Yannick and Jacques, recover missing passports that Sobhraj himself had actually stolen. Sobhraj fled to Iran, leaving his family behind. [6] Sobhraj went to Nepal in 2003, where he was arrested, tried, and given a life sentence. Sobhraj has been the subject of four biographies, three documentaries, a Bollywood film titled Main Aur Charles, and the 2021 eight-part BBC/Netflix drama series The Serpent. Smith and Eather attempted suicide in prison two years before their trial. After all these years, what I can say is that this girl had a very very sad, abominable destiny., Sobhraj apparently rescued Masood from goons in jail, who had beaten him to a pulp, during their stint in Tihar jail. Sobhraj claimed that most of his murders were accidental drug overdoses of temazepam and heroin,[22] but investigators state that the victims had threatened to expose Sobhraj, which was his motive for murder. His mother blamed Charles for her misery. The rights to a film based on his life were sold for over US$15 million. I have to sue a lot of people, AFP quoted Sobhraj as saying. Only this time, he did not take his family with him. Charles Sobhraj (Getty Images) Usha was born to Sobhraj and Chantal in Mumbai, India, in 1970 when her parents were a wanted couple on the run. Several media portals and news organizations often refer to him as The Bikini Killer, The Splitting Killer, and The Serpent. [1]The Telegraph jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4037_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4037_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); Hotchand Bhawnani Gurumukh Charles Sobhraj [2]Scroll.in jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4037_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4037_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); was born on Thursday, April 6, 1944 (age 77 years; as of 2021), in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam.