E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JUL 30 - The Supreme Court (SC) upheld the life imprisonment slapped on French national Charles Sobhraj, who attained notoriety as the Serpent and Bikini Killer in 1970s, in connection with his involvement in the murder of an American lady back in 1975. 

Based on circumstantial evidences, a joint bench of justices Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Gauri Dhakal endorsed the verdict pronounced by the lower courts—Patan Appellate Court and Kathmandu District Court. Government prosecutors have obtained Charles’s former girlfriend’s confession to Indian Police that he had murdered the American backpacker, Connie Joe Bronzich back in1975 in Kathmandu.

Earlier in 2004, Kathmandu District Court had convicted him for the murder of Bronzich. Later, the Patan Appellate court also upheld the ruling. He was arrested in 2003 from a Casino located on the premises of Yak and Yeti Hotel in the Capital. He had claimed that he was on a business trip.

However, Sobhraj had been denying his hand in the Bronzich’s murder, insisting that he had never been to Nepal before 2003.

The US national was stabbed repeatedly and later burned beyond recognition before being dumped on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

Sobhraj had reportedly tried to escape from Kathmandu's central jail in November 2004 but security personnel foiled his plot. He has been serving a life sentence in Nepal since 2004.

Sobhraj,66,  a French national born to Vietnamese mother and Indian merchant, has been linked to the deaths of at least 12 backpackers across Asia in the 1970s. He had reportedly escaped from jails in Greece, Afghanistan and India, where he drugged guards with sedative-laced sweets and walked out of a New Delhi jail.

Corrupt judges’ decision

Meanwhile, Sobhraj’s wife Nihita Biswas, who is in her early 20s, expressed her wrath against the SC verdict. She remarked the apex decision on Sobhraj was taken by “corrupt judges”. 

“My husband is innocent,” said Nihita,who claims to have married the 66-year-old convict in jail two years back, talking to media persons at the SC premises.

 She charged that the judges took the decision by accepting bribe.

“Now, we will knock on the doors of CIAA and International Court,” said Biswas, adding that she has lost her faith in Nepal’s judiciary from now onwards.

(With inputs from our correspondent Baburam Kharel)

 

Posted on: 2010-07-30 03:59

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