Kathmandu, July 14 (IANS) Charles Sobhraj’s crime history and legal battle in Nepal:
December 1975: The badly burnt bodies of American tourist Connie Jo Bronzich and an unidentified man found in Kathmandu valley. Police later claimed the body to be of Canadian Laurent Armand Carriere.
1976: Charles Sobhraj arrested in New Delhi and Nepal police put together new case claiming he visited Nepal and killed Bronzich.
1997: India frees Sobhraj from Tihar Jail and extradites him. Both the Indian and French governments ask Nepal if there are any cases against him but Nepal says no.
September 2003: Sobhraj visits Kathmandu and is recognised by a local daily, who publish his photo. It leads to police arresting him and charging him with coming to Nepal in 1975 on a false passport. Court dismisses false passport case. Police re-arrest him for Bronzich’s murder.
2004: Kathmandu district court finds him guilty, sends him to prison for 20 years. Sobhraj fights the conviction.
2005: Patan Appellate Court upholds the guilty verdict. Sobhraj appeals in Supreme Court.
2006: Supreme Court begins to hear his appeal.
2008: Sobhraj claims to have married his fiancee Nihita Biswas inside prison.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)
