Beyond The Serpent: Charles Sobhraj through the eyes of those who knew him

Accused of murdering dozens of Western tourists across Asia in the 1970s, Sobhraj’s life story has spawned numerous retellings, including a miniseries on Netflix

New interviews reveal a chocolate-loving womaniser who exerted dominance over his fellow prison inmates while forming alliances with influential criminals

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Charles Sobhraj pictured in the custody of Indian police. ‘The Serpent’ spent more than two decades imprisoned in India. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:00pm, 24 Apr 2021Updated: 8:45am, 22 Oct 2021

When Sunil Gupta arrived to start work at India’s largest prison on May 8, 1981, the 24-year-old was surprised to learn that the position he was appointed for wasn’t available anymore – that was until a bespectacled, balding man dressed in a light brown suit stopped by to ask what was going on.

Assuming the man to be a senior official at Tihar prison, Gupta explained the situation to him. “He went straight into my superior’s office. After a few minutes, he came out and asked me to start work the same day,” Gupta, now aged 64 told This Week In Asia. “Later, I discovered that he was Charles Sobhraj.”

Sobhraj – a French national of Indian and Vietnamese descent known as the “bikini killer” for reportedly murdering at least 20 Western travellers, including bikini-clad women, across Thailand, Nepal and India in the 1970s – served more than 20 years in Tihar for various charges before his release in 1997. The 77-year-old has been languishing in a Kathmandu prison since 2003 after being jailed for life for killing one Canadian backpacker and his American friend decades earlier.

A poster for ‘The Serpent’ miniseries, now streaming on Netflix. Photo: Instagram

Over the years, his life story has spawned several books, a movie, and a new BBC miniseries which recently began streaming on Netflix. The Serpent tells the story of this suave, debonair businessman, who often introduced himself as a gem dealer to young Western backpackers, hippies, small-time drug smugglers and tourists, before drugging, robbing and killing them.

The dramatised series has again cast the spotlight on how a man who was once the world’s most wanted criminal wielded his charm and influence to get away with murder, while evading arrest at almost every turn.

New interviews with journalists who covered Sobhraj’s story and others who interacted with him reveal a chocolate-loving womaniser who exerted dominance over his fellow inmates while forming alliances with influential criminals.

‘A BOLLYWOOD ACTOR?’

Joseph Nathan broke the story of Sobhraj’s return to Nepal in September 2003 after he spotted the “bikini killer”, dressed in blue jeans, baseball cap and trainers, playing low-stakes Baccarat at the casino of a five-star hotel in the Nepalese capital.