charles sobhraj interview bbc 1997

Six years ago, when she just 20, Biswas married Sobhraj in a ceremony inside Kathamandu Central Jail. Even bad deeds with good intentions can be good deeds.. They, of course, refused to release the passengers but I succeeded in getting an undertaking from them that for 11 days, they would not harm the passengers, but after that, they would start executing. I still have a strict physical and mental discipline. If Sobhraj's greatest criminal weakness was his propensity to be caught, it was offset by an impressive strength: his ability to escape. He was shunted back and forth between his parents and when he was nine, and officially stateless, deposited in a boarding school in France. "Ask Nietzsche," he replied with a grin. He joins the dots and (spoiler alert) presents the information to the Thai police, who arrest Sobhraj but then, through a mixture of incompetence and complacency, allow him to escape. The only topic that aroused his sense of injustice was his imprisonment, which he took to be one of the great judicial miscarriages of modern times. Death Stalks the Hippy trail! read one headline. Sobhraj described Dhondy as a "petty middleman", while Dhondy called the threat to sue him "extortion and blackmail". You cant judge him the way you would other normal people. "They couldn't help me because I was undercover.". He told me, as a number of criminals looked on, that he had had to issue beatings to defend himself and establish his seniority. And then we pulled up at a cheap brasserie on some kind of industrial estate. After all, I cannot now face trial . I changed the topic and asked about Chantal Compagnon. His name was Charles Sobhraj, better known as 'The Serpent'. He was also charged with the murders of an Israeli academic in Varanasi and a French tourist in Delhi. Leclerc, who is played by Jenna Coleman in the BBC series, was imprisoned and died of cancer. Yet almost 30 years later Sobhraj returned to Nepal and was arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years in jail. Chowdhury disappeared after a trip to Malaysia with Sobhraj and has never been seen again. According to Sobhraj, he aimed to double-cross both parties and enable the CIA to smash an international drug and arms deal between a terrorist organisation and a crime syndicate. A former commissioning editor at Channel 4, he is now a playwright, novelist and documentary maker. His motto was: 'When you feel the heat, go to the kitchen,' and he certainly thrived in stressful situations. Jenna Coleman, as Marie-Andre Leclerc, with Rahim in The Serpent. Like Patricia Highsmiths Tom Ripley, he assumed different identities, using stolen passports and creating a trail of havoc wherever he went. Subs offer. After all, it's not often that renowned multiple killers are at liberty and available to talk. There is usually also a psychological - rather than purely material - aspect to the killings, and perhaps a ritualised element too. With an obedient Indian accomplice called Ajay Chowdhury, he murdered them in a variety of fashions, including in one case setting fire to a young Dutch couple while they were still alive. Remember what happened in 1994A Pakistani outfit in Kashmir that called themselves Al Faran kidnapped six foreigners, decapitated one of them, asking for Masoods release. 1 day ago, by Yerin Kim Are you in contact with anyone else in Pakistan? His mother then married an occupying French soldier who, suffering from PTSD, returned to France with his young family. It will be a bestseller. We suggested he try the Telegraph.". The chilling evidence he uncovered put Sobhraj behind bars with a life sentence. Every cent. There will be film rights too.". And he said, 'You could put it that way.'". He cant deal with the outside world, said Dhondy. Picture: collage of promotional photos from BBC One and Netflix's The Serpent and Herman Knippenberg's personal collectionCredit: BBC / Mammoth Screen and Herman Knippenberg, See all episodes from The Outlook Podcast Archive, True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives. His is a dark and tragic story that lies between what he might have been and what he became, said Neville. Now his main lawyer is Isabelle Coutant-Peyne, who is married to the renowned international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal. While in prison in Kathmandu, Charles Sobhraj would make the occasional phone call to me just as he did while I covered his trial in India and during his stint in Tihar Jail. The limited series then dives into a chilling 1997 interview with Sobhraj, who's played by Tahar Rahim. If you haven't heard of his story, Sobhraj is a Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian descent who drugged, robbed, and murdered travellers going through Asia in the '70s. Read about our approach to external linking. "Think about the money," he said. Here's What We Know, Are the "Daisy Jones & The Six" Cast Really Singing in the Show? After many false starts, a year later I found myself back in Kathmandu, where the producers had secured a prison interview. "I'm looking for a literary agent," he told me. Sobhraj met his current Nepalese lawyer, Shakuntala Thapa, through her daughter, 24-year-old Nihita Biswas, who acted as his translator during one of the Frenchman's many appeals. Tahar Rahim as Sohhraj in the BBC drama series The Serpent. Complaining that he had paid all the necessary bribes, Sobhraj still insisted he was about to be released any day. I was 23 and Richard Neville, who later became my husband, was 33. Two years ago Ansari was shot, but not fatally injured, by a would-be assassin who was said to be visiting Sobhraj in the prison. Again, Dhondy believes the meeting in Nepal was a real one. On the eve of the interview, the Nepali authorities changed their minds, and we returned home empty-handed. For his part, Ganesh claimed that as a young boy he had been traumatised by seeing Connie Jo Bronzich's burnt and naked corpse in a field near his home. Confronted with all these fantastic stories, Dhondy did what many other writers would have done and turned them into a novel, published in India, entitled The Bikini Murders. Richard died four years ago and its now been more than 40 years since Bungles and Mishap, two amusingly naive youngsters, got to write a classic true crime book, about which in retrospect, I now feel enormous pride. Having successfully persuaded a killer to acknowledge his guilt on screen in a previous documentary they had made, they were interested in making a film about Sobhraj. I have started a second manuscript which Ill complete after about six months. In 1997, after attending a Royal Gala evening, Geri Halliwell kissed Prince Charles on the cheek. In Kathmandu the prisoners run their side of the prison, where our interview took place, and the guards remain outside. He discovered the couple were victims of serial killer Charles Sobhraj. Prince Charles then flew to Palm Beach, Florida in which he met Governor Bob Graham. ", Biswas says she is no longer able to visit her husband owing to pressure from the authorities. Even if the hired killer had been in collusion with Sobhraj, that didn't explain how he entered the prison with a gun - unless someone at the self-same prison authorities turned a blind eye. Its OK. Are you in contact with Indian intelligence agencies? He was a patriarchal figure who demanded obedience. With the single exception of his confessions to Neville, which he later retracted, he has always held to the legal argument that, as hed not been found guilty of any murders, it meant he hadnt committed any murders. In mid-70s Bangkok, Dutchman Herman Knippenberg was tasked with finding two missing travellers. She was a little-travelled medical secretary, quiet and emotionally needy. The couple soon split up and Sobhraj lived with his mother and her new boyfriend, a French soldier. In Paris he told me that when it gets hot, I go to the kitchen. It was from prison that Sobhraj phoned me out of the blue in 2016. But the very same day he was arrested for car theft and served eight months back inside. Forever enterprising, the first thing Sobhraj had done after his arrest was sell the rights to his life story to a Bangkok businessman, who sold them on to Random House, who asked Richard to immediately get to Delhi. Meta pagar 725 millones de dlares para resolver una demanda por privacidad "If you use it to make people do wrong it's an abuse," he said. Also, while in Kathmandu, you married your lawyers daughter. At one moment he would lapse into philosophical musings, the next make a blackly mordant joke. Getting to see Sobhraj in Kathmandu was not easy. This is an interview of Charles being sarcastic about his murders Show more Show more Tahar Rahim on Why He'd Meet with the Real Serial Killer He Played in 'The Serpent' TheEllenShow 135K views. Back in the Seventies, Sobhraj murdered at least ten people, mostly Western travellers along the Asian hippie trail. I was 23 and Richard Neville, who later became my husband, was 33. But is the opening interview in the limited series based on actual events? But what could he do? The case would become a sensation, involving trickery, drugs, gems, gun running, corruption, dramatic prison escapes and a glamorous female accomplice who was photographed wearing big sunglasses and holding a fluffy dog. Knippenbergs direct manner is well captured by Billy Howle, but while Tahar Rahims depiction of Sobhraj gets his enigmatic detachment and quiet menace, it doesnt catch what, in a way, are his more troubling qualities: wit and charm and a kind of playful sense of self-mythologising. The whole story from the Taliban to Saddam sounded like the product of an international-class fantasist's imagination. It was as if it was just business, being a serial killer, just another role in the postmodern world of image management. Well, you already know about it After Masood Azhars release following the Indian Airline hijacking incident (in 1999), The Indian Express had mentioned my role with the Government of India at that time. You can ask for confirmation from Jaswant Singh. Then in June 2001 in the splendid Narayanhiti royal palace, Crown Prince Dipendra slaughtered nine other members of the royal family, including the king and queen, before killing himself. Sobhraj was not amused. "I told him what I knew, that the Russians said that they had an isotope that could act as a trigger for nuclear bombs. Mr Jaswant Singh was in direct contact with me. Here's where Sobhraj is now. The Serpent starts on BBC One, 9pm, New Years Day, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. He also escaped from three prisons in three different countries. Upon release after his 12-year sentence, he was to be extradited to Thailand to potentially face the death penalty for several murders. On receiving a negative reply from Nepal, the Government of India then informed the CMM (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate) in Delhi that I was no longer wanted by any country and could be released (for) A planned meeting with a Chinese party from Hong Kong, a legal business matter. And Sobhraj was not unaware of his magnetic appeal. "Everyone has good and bad sides. Of course, my first priority will be to return to France. His efforts to sell his prison memoirs came to nothing, however, and six years later he was arrested in Nepal for the murders in December 1975 of a 28-year-old American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich and her friend, a Canadian by the name of Laurent Carrire, whose mutilated corpses were found that Christmas in fields near Kathmandu. You have now crossed 70 years of age. I did, but there has been only silence. We then continued our all-consuming research into the murders. So, have things worked according to plan? There is a great deal of mythology surrounding serial killers and, indeed, the term itself is not exactly a scientific designation. In fact, his relationship with Compagnon continued until less than three years ago, when she was threatened on the phone by an angry Nihita Biswas. "I'd heard of him all through my life, being Indian, and his great escape from Tihar jail," said Dhondy. Although they are no longer in contact, Sobhraj appears to have forgiven Dhondy, after the author was quoted as saying the killer's conviction in Nepal was unsound. Chip redesign to optimise server ops, water to keep cool, IVF failed Aarti and Ajay thrice: How a doctors persistence helped them become parents after 40, When Nehru picked Opp leader as Deputy Speaker, Prayagraj witness murder: Two minor sons of Atiq admitted to childrens home, police tell court, Sunday Long Reads: Why are there so few women surgeons in India, three French women writers you must read, and more, Iran claims to have unearthed massive lithium deposit: Implications of the reported discovery, AP govt concludes 2-day Global Investors Summit, Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, Statutory provisions on reporting (sexual offenses), This website follows the DNPAs code of conduct. He actually received time for drugging and trying to rob a group of French engineering students in India but wasn't convicted for any murders prior to 1997. According to Sobhraj, two Arabs, probably Iraqis, contacted him from Bahrain. Sobhraj prided himself on his ability to read people. But exactly why he then killed these harmless young travellers remains a mystery. Sobhraj insisted that he had never been to Nepal before in his life. t was 1977 and my boyfriend and I were working as journalists in New York. The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards. In September 2003 Sobhraj came to the Casino Royale every night for two weeks to play blackjack. Tahar Rahim as Charles Sobhraj in The Serpent. Lets say only that meeting was in relation to some matter linked to Pakistan. Instead he was arrested and imprisoned in Tehran on suspicion of selling arms to the anti-Shah underground. I too made the journey to Paris and managed to arrange an interview for The Observer with the Vietnamese-Indian Frenchman." I hope to live for many years to come. We needed our little jokes because actually we were a long way out of our depth. He was always studying character, alive to any signs of weakness that could be exploited. Like other career criminals Ive met, he was a stickler for the letter of the law when he thought it might help his case. I asked her why she came back to him, and she said 'I love him. With his wife behind bars in Afghanistan, he returned to France and kidnapped his daughter from her maternal grandparents. Not subtle, but clearly we were under surveillance. This urge to run away can perhaps be traced back to his disrupted childhood. He called me at the Observer after my piece appeared and said he was coming to London. . President Reagan: 17-23 February 1986 It was 1970, the beginning of the so-called hippy trail, when hordes of young people would make long, low-budget trips through southern Europe, the Middle East, India and the far east. He was indeed released in 1997 after spending two decades in an Indian prison. I thought he was going to voice his anger but he just wanted my recommendation for a literary agent. He thought that, secretly, he harboured a wish to return to prison, even if once there he would spend all his time trying to get out. He had taken whatever money he could get from his previous wives, one of whom remained perversely loyal. There was also the small matter of Yousuf Ansari, a local media baron who shared the same block in the prison with Sobhraj. He finds himself not famous, whereas in prison hes a somebody.. Afterwards, he would steal their belongings and identities, often travelling the world on their passports and money. Charles Sobhraj, pictured in 1997, the year he was released after 21 years in a New Delhi jail. He loved nothing better than talking about his legal appeals. Murderer, 75, who terrorised Asia in 1970s remains behind bars in Nepal. Floral dream: The Pose star, 31, donned a flower-inspired . You have spent time in Tihar Jail as well. . Those hands had snapped necks.) First day, first show: Harmanpreet Kaur kicks off the biggest night in women's cricket with a bang, SC order on appointments will enhance Election Commission's credibility. The limited series then dives into a chilling 1997 interview with Sobhraj, who's played by Tahar Rahim. He is not a psycho.". I am going straight back to France to my family. In its latest report, Transparency International has classified Nepal as the third most corrupt country after Afghanistan and Bangladesh. I doubt that day will ever arrive. Charles Bronson is Britain's most notorious criminal. We were both having nightmares that Sobhraj was chasing us, or suddenly appearing in our room. He grew up amid terror on the city streets and fierce disputes at home. Only intellectuals." Back in London I got in touch with Dhondy. Originally published in the April 2014 issue of British GQ. Now he dreams of retiring to Devon to paint pictures. At first it led to the M25, where Dhondy was directed one morning by Sobhraj. Linked with at least ten sadistic murders, Charles Sobhraj is a narcissistic pedlar of fantasies who has spent his life on the run or in prison across Southeast Asia, France and the. anywhere in the world." For all the moral grandeur of those words, at 75 he has spent more than half his life in prison. He became known as the Bikini Killer after the swimsuit one of his victims was wearing when she was discovered. The monarchy never recovered, and under the added pressure of a Maoist insurgency, Nepal was declared a republic in 2008. A couple of months later, Al Faran went silent and until today, the whereabouts of those remaining foreign hostages remain unknown. "She said he did them all," he said. Despite my pressing, he refused to speak about the murders, only allowing that there were things in his past that he regretted but they were now behind him and he wanted to start life anew. It seemed the more unreliable his behaviour, the more devoted they became. He went on to explain that he had been working as an arms dealer to, among others, the Taliban, courtesy of an introduction from the Islamist terrorist leader Masood Azhar, a friend from his days in Tihar prison. The first thing he did when I knocked on the door was offer me an open bottle of Coke, which was also the way he had incapacitated many of his victims. What was going on? Charles Sobhraj was re-captured on April 6, 1986 drinking beer in a resort bar. Travelling as Alain Gautier, he met Leclerc in Kashmir. Now that the master of guile is set to take his flight to freedom at age 78, the world may finally get to hear from the man himself the chronicles, claims and conspiracy theories that make up Charles Sobhraj. The case would become a sensation, involving trickery, drugs, gems, gun running, corruption, dramatic prison escapes and a glamorous female accomplice who was photographed wearing big sunglasses and holding a fluffy dog. I met Hooda last October and I like him as a person. Its personal, she replied. "For a meeting with a major Chinese criminal," he said, matter-of-factly, within earshot of a prison guard. In an astonishing interview from his cell in Nepal, Charles Sobhraj says he wants Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to bankroll a movie. Towards the end, when he could perhaps sense my scepticism about the story he had told me, he insisted that I speak to the writer and filmmaker Farrukh Dhondy. Glaring injustices and abuse of power are a conspicuous part of everyday life, so it was not particularly shocking that a famous serial killer wanted for two murders in Nepal was gambling openly at the capital's main casino. I asked Biswas how she would feel if she discovered that her husband was indeed a killer. Then he headed back to Asia with a plan to bust Compagnon out of jail. Sobhraj made sure he had those connections. In autumn 2011, she appeared as a contestant on Bigg Boss, India's equivalent of, Feisty and articulate, she ran through all the legal flaws in the prosecution's case. I dont want to say more about it. He was indeed released in 1997 after spending two decades in an Indian prison. She told me that she didnt believe her husband was a killer, but I asked what she would think if she was presented with irrefutable evidence. Referencing the title card, Anthony wrote, "The ABC team were not the only ones back then to speak to Sobhraj, who was suspected of committing at least 12 murders. Mention Charles Sobhraj in India, everybody knows, north to south. He escaped from three prisons in three different countries. You are known to have been in touch with American intelligence agencies even from Kathmandu Jail. "I said, 'You're the serial killer.' On release, he was due to be extradited to Thailand, where he faced the death penalty for several murders. He didnt seem dangerous to me, but then he didnt seem dangerous to those he killed, either. But regardless of how he was defined, I wanted to know what he thought about his past deeds. Then he and Compagnon were imprisoned in Afghanistan. Are you part of any more film or book projects? When he left prison, the statute of limitations on his arrest was up. He spent most of his adolescence in Paris in and out of youth offender facilities and then their adult version. He also attended a dinner at the Breakers Hotel and played polo at the International Polo Club. Humanitarian work? There seems little doubt that had the same quality of evidence produced in the Kathmandu court been put to a judge and jury in Britain, the case would have been dismissed. In any case, it requires no great intellect to kill someone. Charles and Diana stayed at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. for the duration of the visit. The filmmaker got a researcher- to look into it and they sent the findings to Sobhraj. He yearns for life outside, but once there he soon finds himself back behind bars. What are your plans after release from jail? You even visited a casino. "Johnson turned up on his bicycle," recalled Dhondy. I dont know, lets see after the publication of my bookThere could be a future Hindi movie. Sometimes he would gamble away huge sums of money - he once lost $200,000 at the tables in Rouen. Uncheckable. Hed also left behind a trail of broken women. "I am a busy man with my own film production company in Paris. Settling in Paris, Sobhraj was allegedly paid $5 million for his life story and reportedly gave interviews for $6,000 each. Ripley has been described as suave, agreeable, and utterly immoral, and those adjectives were not out of place for Sobhraj. Actor Randeep Hooda met you in Kathmandu Jail. "He's too stupid for that. Perhaps it's true. I straightaway refused, saying Masood would never agree, and again, I told them that I was convinced that after 11 days, they would start executing some passengers. He told me he was about to be released. When I met him in Paris he boasted of his exploits in Tihar prison in New Delhi. Charles Sobhraj is bundled into a police van in Delhi in 1997, shortly after his release from jail. Sobhraj was now in full flow, describing each murder in detail. "Hello, Andrew," whispered a distinctive French accent. "He's an old friend of mine," she said, "and he admitted it was all a lie. The place was empty but, said Sobhraj, it belonged to a friend. Both in and out of jail, Sobhraj has always had a way with women. The first time we met Sobhraj he was chained to a guard and shackled, but he welcomed us graciously. His motto was: "When you feel the heat, go to the kitchen", and there is little question that he thrived in stressful situations. Not for Charles Sobhraj, better known as the Serpent, the title of a new BBC drama series about his crimes and eventual capture. (Credit: Charles Sobhraj), Charles Sobhraj exclusive interview: I am going straight back to France to my family I hope to live for many years to come, An Express Investigation Part Four | Compensatory afforestation neither compensates nor forest: 60% funds unused, An Express Investigation Part Three: Red flags, Indias green certification under cloud, Conflict Wood: Under sanctions, prized Myanmar teak finds its way to US, EU markets via India, Recalling the life and crimes of Bikini killer Charles Sobhraj, A brash fellow: retired cop who arrested Sobhraj recalls how he nabbed him at a Goa restaurant. Until quite recently it was a monarchist state in which the royal family lived lives of extraordinary luxury amid the surrounding squalor endured by most of its subjects. Its prison administration? It was in this transient milieu that Sobhraj stole from impressionable travellers. BBC's (and now Netflix's) The Serpent opens with a title card that reads, "In 1997 an American news crew tracked Charles Sobhraj down to Paris where he was living as a free man." The. Photograph: Krishnan Guruswamy/AP How I wrote On the Trail of The Serpent: the story behind. ", Nevertheless a few years ago, while he was working in India, Dhondy received a phone call from Sobhraj in Kathmandu Central Jail. The pair ended up in Bangkok, where he posed as a gem dealer and befriended young travellers. So not Nepali handicrafts, after all. "I kept trying to find out what he was doing, but he wouldn't say. And if so, I would very much have Randeep Hooda to again play my role. Soon recognised by a journalist, Sobhraj found himself in the Himalayan Times. Moreover, when I was released from India, the Indian government had asked Nepal whether I was wanted. (In case those names don't sound familiar, they're renamed Willem and Helena in the series.) It was a psychological test, the first of several that afternoon. He took it, got into the car, drove to Holland and gambled it all away. Nonetheless, even the police eventually took notice. Get the daily inside scoop right in your inbox. "That's when she cut my money off," complained Sobhraj, shaking his head. In those days visitors entered and left countries like Thailand, Hong Kong and Nepal with minimum official processing.

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