Crime and Criminal psychology is something
that captures attention of several us. The so called bikini killer, was he just
a killer?
Charles Sobhraj, born to a Vietnamese woman
and a Sindhi man was abounded by his father after being born in April 1944 at
Vietnam. He was still stateless until his mother’s boyfriend adopted him. Then
after couple of years, in 1953 he and his mother along with her boyfriend, a
French lieutenant moved to France. Sobhraj so hated Europe and the catholic
School where he was enrolled in. The only memorial from the school was his name
“Charles”, just because of his clever impersonation the comedian.
The butt of racial jokes and insults during the school days
turned out to be a criminal at the age of 19 when he was first sentenced to the
jail. The charmer manipulated the jailors who granted with special favors
during his sentence. And then the con man was born. With several frauds and
burglaries he was having a very exciting life. During that period he met his
first wife, Chantal Compagnon and proposed her for marriage. But the very day
he was arrested. The day of his release the couple got married. By 1970 they
were pregnant, and left France. With fake documents and conning several tourists
they eventually arrived at Mumbai and gave birth to their daughter “Usha” in
the same year.
No “Usha” was not a turning point to Charles. He thrived
cars, smuggled and continued his criminal career. He was again caught for fake
bank robbery in 1973. However, his wife’s fake sickness helped him elope out of
the jail. The criminal mind set was not yet stopped. He was again caught but
later was bailed out with his father’s help. After continuing their criminal
life even in Kabul, his wife finally flew back to France and left everything
behind to start a new life.
After committing several crimes in Istanbul along with his half-brother,
André he was again caught by the authorities. The serpent, however managed to
escape after 18 months of imprisonment leaving his partner in crime behind. The
cut of ties by his wife didn’t even stop him, to enter into a more exciting
world of crime, “Murder”.
Charles along with his new fanatic supporter Ajay
Chowdhury, committed their first knows murder in 1975 at Bangkok. The American
woman named Teresa Knowlton was their first victim. She was initially wooed by
the charmer, gained her trust, which led her to be the part of inner circle of
his life. Then, killed her in her flowered bikini. Similar, murder was led by
him again. This tagged him as the “Bikini Killer”. The most interesting part
about his conning was, he robbed the victims without even letting them know
about it and then acted as a savior to them. That’s how he gained trust of his victims
and later murdered them. His companions in Thailand got hint about the notorious
behavior of his and informed the authority. It has been anticipated that Thai
police didn’t arrest him as they didn’t want to affect their tourism. Is it so?
The Bikini Killer was very much to serial killing. He led
his bloody trail all over South East Asia. His other known victims were killed
in Nepal and India. He along with his supporter Ajay parted during a heist in Malaysia.
And the rest is history, the mysterious vanish of Ajay is still a talk of the
town. Then he flew to India, and the Charlie found his new angels there.
Barbara & Mery Ellen, two women wooed by his aura soon became his angels.
The trio led to several cons. They were soon caught and imprisoned in Tihar
jail. With the heisted gem from Malaysia he could manage to bribe the guards and
live a pleasant life in the jail. But the terrible time inside the jail led his
angels try committing suicide. For the death of the poisoned French victims in
India, he was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment.
On the 10th year of his imprisonment in the Tihar jail, he
threw a party, drugged the Guards and ran away from the jail. Was it an attempt
to escape out of the jail and get caught back so easily?
Or was there something going on in his master mind? Though
it simply looks like an escape from the jail but it was actually a preplanned
step of his to get released soon. He was very much aware about the Thai arrest
warrant against him. As per the law in Thailand, if a person doesn’t get
arrested by 20 years of his crime he can’t get arrested after it. The Crime he
had committed in Thailand would have led him to death penalty. But the clever
one, so called escaped from the Tihar jail and again got caught in Goa which led
him to additional imprisonment of 10 years. This prolonged 10 years of
imprisonment was his master stroke, to get free for lifetime.
Finally, in year 1997 he was a free man with no warrant, no
evidences or witness against his crime. This let him fly back to France. He was
doing quite well in France. His criminal history was exciting to everyone. That
led to several interviews and documentaries of his. He was earning quite well
too. He reportedly had demanded $15 million for the rights to a film on his
life.
The World’s most wanted was a free man, living his life to
fullest until he was recognized by a journalist in the streets of Kathmandu and
was caught in Yak and Yet Hotel in September 2003. His life then took a U-Turn
the free man who escaped out of death penalty of Thailand was sentenced
lifetime imprisonment in Nepal for the murder of Dutch couples in 1975.
And the rest is history, his deteriorating health
condition, kidney transplant, marriage rumor with his Nepalese girlfriend
Nihita Biswas. The ongoing trail led by his girlfriend and her mother is still
talked about.
What if he hadn’t left France? The obvious answer is, he
still would have been a free man with disturbing criminal history but a clean
chit man with no warrants against him. The over confidence of the charmer
definitely faded way his charm in life.
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