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

The person nicknamed “the Serpent” was freed on well being grounds from a jail in Nepal on Friday.

Here’s a timeline of his alleged killing spree:

– 1944: Born in Asia –

Sobhraj is born in Saigon on April 6, 1944, to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mom who later remarries a Frenchman.

In 1963, he embarks on a life as a world criminal, which is able to take him to Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 1970, he strikes to India, the place he’s arrested a yr 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 along 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 seaside in Pattaya, carrying a bikini. Different victims observe, overwhelmed, strangled or burned to dying.

Sobhraj, who will turn into often called the “Bikini killer” allegedly makes use of his victims’ passports for mysterious journeys linked to commerce in treasured stones and medicines.

Underneath a cloud of suspicion, he flees to India.

– 1976: Arrested in India –

In July 1976, he’s arrested in India after attempting to drug a bunch of greater than 20 French vacationers in a New Delhi lodge.

He’s additionally accused of the homicide of one other French vacationer, Luc Salomon, who had been poisoned in a Mumbai lodge.

In Could 1982, he’s handed a life sentence by an Indian courtroom for the 1976 homicide of an Israeli vacationer, Alan Jacob, however is acquitted on attraction a yr 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 dying 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 period Thai authorities have misplaced curiosity in having him extradited.

Accused of a minimum of 15 murders throughout 10 international locations, by the point he leaves Indian jails, his alleged crimes have fallen beneath 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 ability in slipping and sliding out of the judicial dragnet, Sobhraj then returns to Nepal to arrange a scarf export firm beneath 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.

– 2022: Free of jail –

On December 21, 2022, Nepal’s high courtroom orders the discharge of Sobhraj from jail on well being grounds.

He’s launched on December 23, and is because of be deported to France inside 15 days.