'I have to sue a lot of people': Charles Sobhraj arrives in France after 20 years behind bars in Nepal

Convicted serial killer Charles Sobhraj arrived in France on Saturday after nearly 20 years in prison in Nepal, as per reports. The 78-year-old French citizen, was reportedly freed from the Central Jail in Kathmandu on Friday morning. He was taken in a heavily guarded police convoy to the Department of Immigration.

His release came two days after the Supreme Court ordered that he be freed and deported to his home country, PTI reported.

Sobhraj had been serving time for killing American and Canadian backpackers in the 1970s.

Very recently, he was the focus of a series co-produced by the BBC and Netflix called "The Serpent."

The Supreme Court had ordered that Sobhraj, who was sentenced to life in prison, be freed because of poor health, good behavior and having served more than 75% of his sentence, making him eligible for release, Associated Press reported. 

In the past, he has admitted to killing several Western tourists. It is believed that he killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong.

Earlier, Charles Sobhraj was held for two decades in New Delhi's Tihar prison on suspicion of theft but was deported to France in 1997. However, he resurfaced in September 2003 in Kathmandu.

As per PTI, Fanindra Mani Pokharel, the joint secretary and spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said Sobhraj will be barred from entering Nepal for the next ten years. 

Dubbed "The Bikini Killer" for his proclivity to target young women, particularly young western backpackers, and "The Serpent" for his skill at deception and evasion, Sobhraj was serving a life-term in the Kathmandu jail since 2003 for the murder of his American girl friend Connie Jo Bronzich, 29, in 1975 in Nepal, PTI said. In 2014, he was convicted of killing Laurent Carriere, a 26-year-old Canadian backpacker, and given a second life sentence.

Sobhraj told French news agency AFP on the flight out of Nepal that he was not guilty of murdering Bronzich and Carriere and that the case against him was built on fake documents. "I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people," AFP quoted Sobhraj as saying.

A life-term in Nepal means 20 years in jail.

(With agency inputs)

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