charles sobhraj interview bbc 1997

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. His name was Charles Sobhraj, better known as 'The Serpent'. The Serpent takes a close look at the year 1976, when a young Dutch diplomat named Herman Knippenberg followed the murders of Henk Bintanja and Cornelia Hemker in Thailand. An embittered Sobhraj upped the crime stakes. He used to be represented by Jacques Vergs, the "devil's advocate", who has defended every tyrant and war criminal from Klaus Barbie to Slobodan Milosevic. I would see, she said, casually. A bright but delinquent teenager, he was irresistibly drawn to crime car theft, street muggings, and then holding up housewives with a gun. "I would see," she said, unflustered. 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. You met Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar while in Tihar Jail. Four days after the Himalayan Times ran its story, deputy superintendent Ganesh arrested Sobhraj at the Casino Royale. There had to be another reason, something vaguely plausible at least. Simply put, the conditions in Nepali jails are primitive, awful. When tourists began going missing, or turning up dead, Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg was tasked with investigating the disappearances. James McAvoys lowkey watch is a people's champion, 10 of the best GQ-approved first watches money can buy, Meet the men paying to have their jaws broken in the name of manliness, The 18 greatest live sport experiences on earth, The big GQ guide to Spring/Summer 2023 menswear trends, Tom Hardy will be a Hannibal Lecter-esque serial killer in Apple TV+'s, The GQ Car Awards 2023: together in electric dreams, What to wear to a wedding as the clued-up guest, Print copies & Digital access for only 1. It was in this transient milieu that Sobhraj stole from impressionable travellers. There was a narcissism about him, perhaps best captured in a photograph of him that police found in which he is lying naked on a bed, proudly displaying an erection for the camera. In the 1970s a serial killer was on the loose in South East Asia. "He was selling to the Taliban. I had last seen Sobhraj in 1997, just after he was released from two decades in an Indian prison. Investigators believe that Sobhraj killed at least a dozen people, including young travellers, whom he would drug and trap in Kanit House in Bangkok. Co-author Julie Clarke recalls how researching convicted serial killer Charles Sobhraj became a dangerous and shameful obsession. "'This is Charles Sobhraj,'" said Dhondy with pitch-perfect mimicry. 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. "Ask Nietzsche," he replied with a grin. Whatever life he touches, he wrecks. He then told me about being approached by an agent for Saddam Hussein's regime, before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, to buy red mercury, a semi-mythical substance that was said, without credible attribution, to be used in the creation of nuclear weapons. One wonders, why did you take the risk of returning to Nepal where you were a wanted man? Like some bizarre real-life combination of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley and Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter, he was handsome, charming and utterly without scruple. The man himself was careful not to shed any light on the matter. Complaining that he had paid all the necessary bribes, Sobhraj still insisted he was about to be released any day. I couldnt quite believe that someone who had confessed to a number of the murders to Neville, and against whom there was a wealth of compelling evidence, was free to walk the streets of a European capital. I am going straight back to France to my family. Investigators believe that Sobhraj killed at least a dozen people, including young travelers, whom he would drug and trap in Kanit House in Bangkok. It was an era of porous borders and lax security, when the only contact with back home were poste restante letters that might take weeks to arrive. ", Dhondy repeated the details that Sobhraj had told me in Kathmandu, the difference being that he had learned of them before Sobhraj went to prison. 2 weeks ago, by Eden Arielle Gordon Like other career criminals Ive met, he was a stickler for the letter of the law when he thought it might help his case. IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. But it was on his supposed role in trying to secure the release of the hijacked passengers of IC-814 that Sobhraj was most forthcoming. He escaped from three prisons in three different countries. Eventually word got round that he was Charles Sobhraj, so one of my staff asked his name and he said, 'Sob.'" 1 day ago, by Yerin Kim Settling in Paris, Sobhraj was allegedly paid $5 million for his life story and reportedly gave interviews for $6,000 each. Sobhraj was now in full flow, describing each murder in detail. Sobhraj described Dhondy as a "petty middleman", while Dhondy called the threat to sue him "extortion and blackmail". The first time we met Sobhraj he was chained to a guard and shackled, but he welcomed us graciously. But Sobhraj was not political. He said, 'We're here to set up an antique furniture shop. For example, when he was cornered by police in Nepal in 1975 he assumed the identity of a Dutch teacher he had already killed in Bangkok, and was able to talk himself out of arrest. . A well-meaning prison visitor arranged work for him on the outside and also introduced him to a bourgeois young Parisian called Chantal Compagnon. Chowdhury disappeared after a trip to Malaysia with Sobhraj and has never been seen again. Really, as the plane was in Kandahar, the Indian government had no choice but to release Masood to save the passengers. A martial-arts fanatic, he seemed to be physically, psychologically and philosophically armed with everything required to dominate others. No, of course. "He knows everything," he said. So much so, I came on a business visa as an assistant producer for a French production company, Gentleman Films Prod. Sobhraj was arrested and imprisoned multiple times for various crimes from burglary to armed robbery, but he would always be released or manage to escape, such as when he pretended to be ill,. The pair struck up what Dhondy describes as an "acquaintanceship", as the commissioning editor was intrigued to see where the story might lead. "Can you recommend one?". So not Nepali handicrafts, after all. My programme was to be in Kathmandu for only a few days for that meeting, and leave. It was as if it was just business, being a serial killer, just another role in the postmodern world of image management. 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. What are your plans after release from jail? It proved the last straw for his wife. So Dhondy set up a meeting with Boris Johnson, the current mayor of London, who was then editor of the Spectator, at the Islington house of Peter Oborne, then the magazine's political editor. So, have things worked according to plan? In September 2003 Sobhraj came to the Casino Royale every night for two weeks to play blackjack. In nearly all his murders, he first disabled his victims by spiking their drinks. Charles Sobhraj exclusive interview: 'I am going straight back to France to my family I hope to live for many years to come' With the master of guile 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. He has made a continual fuss about his conviction, appealing to everyone from the UN downwards, and is demanding 7m (5.8) compensation for unlawful imprisonment. He told me in Paris that he had regrets but he wouldnt say what they were. I was shown into a narrow room with a long table, on the far side of which were the prisoners and on the other the visitors. I think hell become one of the top actors in Bollywood. He yearns for life outside, but once there he soon finds himself back behind bars. He twice tried to return to Vietnam by stowing away on a ship - once he got as far as Djibouti before being discovered and sent back to France. This urge to run away can perhaps be traced back to his disrupted childhood. However she remains a staunch advocate of his cause and the attention she has garnered, due to her husband, hasn't been all bad. As The Serpent shows, Bangkok in 1976 was a place where anyone with the right connections and spare cash could evade unwanted police attention. When captured, he feigned appendicitis and escaped from hospital. Confused by the ploy, the Nepalese police had allowed Gautier/Bintanja to escape to Bangkok, this time using Carrire's passport. As Neville noted: "Whatever life he touches, he wrecks. Such a clip from ABC isn't readily available to view, but many other profiles with Sobhraj can be found on the internet. The book was published in 1979, after the Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian parentage had been on trial in India in 1977, when he thought the admission couldn't hurt him. A foreign diplomat told me that the French embassy made no secret of its arrangement with Kathamandu Central Jail, in which the two institutions referred potential visitors back and forth to each other until they gave up. I was a little anxious that he had taken objection to my portrayal of him as a dissembling if captivating psychopath. Prince Charles then flew to Palm Beach, Florida in which he met Governor Bob Graham. You can ask for confirmation from Jaswant Singh. IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The suggestion was that Sobhraj was part of another murder plot. Whats not known is that after that call, I had a very long conversation with Jaswant Singh and suggested to him a second solution: that the Government of India gives an official undertaking, endorsed by Parliament, that Masood would be released within six months, and I would try my best to negotiate with Harkat ul Ansar on that ground. Sobhraj was not amused. 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. They are the only things in his misspent life that hes ever been able to hold on to. Sobhraj was born into the turmoil and violence of Saigon in 1944. Mention Charles Sobhraj in India, everybody knows, north to south. 10 hours ago, by Eden Arielle Gordon Will MS Dhoni pass the baton to Ben Stokes in what could be his final season for CSK? After a special plea to the prison minister, two meetings with the prison governor, three body searches and an armed escort, I entered the inner sanctum of the prison, which is run by the prisoners. He even denied meeting a number of his victims when I raised their names, although there were witness statements placing them in his apartment. Ripley has been described as suave, agreeable, and utterly immoral, and those adjectives were not out of place for Sobhraj. 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. Instead he was arrested and imprisoned in Tehran on suspicion of selling arms to the anti-Shah underground. 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. Richard, who had already achieved notoriety in the UK with his anti-establishment Oz magazine, was offered a contract to write a book about Charles Sobhraj, a young French Vietnamese man who had just been arrested for murder after an international manhunt. The said news quoted the Nepal Police as declaring that they had no case or file against me. 'He can't deal with the outside world,' says the documentary maker and writer Farrukh Dhondy. Charles Sobhraj-1 By Ramesh Koirala. He grew up amid terror on the city streets and fierce disputes at home. (In case those names don't sound familiar, they're renamed Willem and Helena in the series.) Sign up for our Celebrity & Entertainment newsletter. What skills could he employ in France and who would employ him? 1 day ago, by Samantha Brodsky "I told him what I knew, that the Russians said that they had an isotope that could act as a trigger for nuclear bombs. But hed acquired a third wife, an attractive 24-year-old, Nikita Biswas, the daughter of his Nepali lawyer. But like so many women who were to follow, she had fallen under his spell. Charles and Diana stayed at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. for the duration of the visit. A REAL LIFE hero backpacker who escaped a serial killer in BBC drama The Serpent is alive, well - and helping to run his local billiards club. He greeted me like an old friend, and told me that he wanted me to write his autobiography, as though his life was filled with achievement. The reporter says, "There are those who would say you got away with it." 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. BBC primetime drama has moved into the true-crime genre with the release of The Serpent, an eight-part thriller telling the real-life story of the mass murderer, Charles Sobhraj. In those days visitors entered and left countries like Thailand, Hong Kong and Nepal with minimum official processing. Sobhraj denied all knowledge of the plot, but the prison authorities claimed that the gunman had visited him 21 times in the preceding months. The new Netflix series, 'The Serpent' tells the story of Charles Sobhraj, sometimes "Alain Gautier," who murdered tourists in Asia in the 1970s. Its a bottomless pit. "He's not a revenge killer," says Dhondy. 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. There is usually also a psychological - rather than purely material - aspect to the killings, and perhaps a ritualised element too. On the eve of the interview, the Nepali authorities changed their minds, and we returned home empty-handed. In Kathmandu the prisoners run their side of the prison, where our interview took place, and the guards remain outside. 1 day ago, by Victoria Edel There was Jacqueline Kuster, a German imprisoned on drug charges, and a young Punjabi who fell in love with him having read Neville's biography. 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. "He can't deal with the outside world," said Dhondy. It's a rough-and-ready place, low on elegance, but with a lively local clientele who tend to shout a lot around the gaming tables, and a posse of security muscle stationed on the floor, ready to settle disputes. I feel 30!" He told me that he's been thinking of me recently because he's looking for someone to ghost his autobiography. I called Jaswant Singh, told him that in my opinion, no passenger would be harmed for 11 days, so India had 11 days to negotiate. But is the opening interview in the limited series based on actual events? In 2003, Sobhraj was arrested once more in Nepal, then later convicted for the 1975 murders of American Connie Jo Bronzich and Canadian Laurent Carrire. The place was empty but, said Sobhraj, it belonged to a friend. Richard speedily learned the arts of bribery and corruption and arranged regular access to interview him. A generation was looking to find itself by getting lost or high somewhere off the beaten track. And he said, 'You could put it that way.'". The notorious murderer who preyed on 70s backpackers is the subject of a new BBC drama. A Bollywood film (Main Aur Charles) has been made on you. All of which meant that in 1997 he returned to Paris, where I went to interview him for the Observer. 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. 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. A week after I published a damning profile, Sobhraj called me at the Observer office. After politely sidestepping his offer, I got on to the question I'd been waiting a long time to ask: whatever made him come back to Nepal? Are you still in touch with him? But the rest was undoubtedly a product of his pathological imagination. The couple soon split up and Sobhraj lived with his mother and her new boyfriend, a French soldier. Recently, I filed a petition in the Supreme Court (of Nepal) praying that the court intervene. He looked small and inconsequential, but better than any 68-. year-old who's spent the last ten years in a decrepit prison has any right to look. I thought he was going to voice his anger but he just wanted my recommendation for a literary agent. Photograph: Krishnan Guruswamy/AP How I wrote On the Trail of The Serpent: the story behind. 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.

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