Kathmandu: The Supreme Court in Nepal on Wednesday ordered the release of French serial killer Charles Sobhraj on the ground of his age, reported ANI.
The 78-year-old Sobhraj has been in Kathmandu’s Central Jail since 2003, on charges of murdering two American tourists.
The Supreme Court also ordered that Sobhraj be deported to France within 15 days of his release.
Sobhraj, born in Saigon to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, went to France after his mother got married a second time – to a French lieutenant.
He started committing petty crimes from his teenage years, serving his first jail term at the age of 19 in Paris.
He murdered at least 20 tourists in south and south-east Asia and was dubbed the ‘Bikini Killer’.
Sobhraj was convicted and imprisoned in India from 1976 to 1997, after which he went back to France.
In 2003, he was arrested and charged with using a fake passport to enter Nepal and killing an American and a Canadian in 1975.
He had been serving 21-year imprisonment in Nepal — 20 years for murdering US citizens and one year and a fine of Rs 2,000 for using a fake passport.
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