For many years Asia’s most needed man, French serial killer Charles Sobhraj terrorised the continent with a string of murders within the Nineteen Seventies that focused vacationers.

Here’s a timeline of the alleged killing spree of them man nicknamed “the Serpent”, who was launched from jail in Nepal on Friday:

– 1944: born in Asia – Sobhraj is born in Saigon on April 6, 1944, of an Indian father and a Vietnamese mom who later remarries a Frenchman. In 1963, he embarks on a life as a global criminal, which can take him to Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1970, he strikes to India, the place he’s arrested a 12 months later for a jewelry heist. He flees whereas out on bail and goes to Greece, the place he additionally manages to flee after being arrested.

– 1975: ‘Bikini killer’ – He arrives in Bangkok in 1975 together with his Canadian girlfriend and an Indian affiliate. He hangs out with vacationers, passing himself off as a dealer in treasured stones. In October, the physique of a younger lady is discovered on a Thai seashore in Pattaya, carrying a bikini. Different victims observe, crushed, strangled or burned to demise. Sobhraj, who will develop into referred to as the “Bikini killer” allegedly makes use of his victims’ passports for mysterious journeys linked to commerce in treasured stones and medicines. Beneath a cloud of suspicion, he flees to India.

– 1976: arrested in India – In July 1976, he’s arrested in India after making an attempt to drug a bunch of greater than 20 French vacationers in a New Delhi resort. He’s additionally accused of the homicide of one other French vacationer, Luc Salomon, who had been poisoned in a Mumbai resort. In Might 1982, he’s handed a life sentence by an Indian court docket for the 1976 homicide of an Israeli vacationer, Alan Jacob, however is acquitted on enchantment a 12 months later for lack of proof. He stays in jail for his different crimes.

– 1980: Thailand calls for extradition – In late 1985, India agrees to Thailand’s request to extradite Sobhraj for the murders of a Turkish vacationer and a younger American lady, Teresa Knowlton. He dangers the demise penalty there. He then escapes from jail in New Delhi in March 1986 by feeding drug-laced sweets to his guards. He’s recaptured three weeks later in a Goa restaurant. However delays within the Indian authorized system imply the prison-break case doesn’t come to trial for a number of years, by which era Thai authorities have misplaced curiosity in having him extradited. Accused of at the least 15 murders throughout 10 nations, by the point he leaves Indian jails, his alleged crimes have fallen below the statute of limitations in Thailand. Upon launch, he goes to France and lives there quietly till 2003 earlier than returning to Nepal.

 – 2004: Life sentence – Nicknamed the “Serpent” for his talent in slipping and sliding out of the judicial dragnet, Sobhraj then returns to Nepal to arrange a scarf export firm below a false identification. He’s rapidly recognised and arrested in Kathmandu for the 1975 murders of two vacationers, a Canadian backpacker Laurent Armand Carriere and American Connie Joe Bronzich. He receives a life sentence in August 2004. On December 21, 2022, Nepal’s high court docket orders the discharge of Sobhraj from jail on well being grounds.