Plans afoot to hand over serial killer Charles Sobhraj to Immigration Department

KATHMANDU: With the Supreme Court issuing a directive to free infamous serial killer Charles Sobhraj, preparations are underway to hand the French citizen over to the Department of Immigration.

Sobhraj, who had been doing time in Nepali jail for the past 19 years on the charge of murdering two foreign nationals in Nepal and trying to kill one, was freed on the ground of age.

Responding to a habeas corpus writ, a division bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha on Wednesday issued a verdict directing the government to free him at the earliest and to make arrangements to send him to his home country within 15 days.

Meanwhile, the central jail is preparing to hand him over to the Department of Immigration.

Ishwori Prasad Pandey, jailer at the central jail, said that Sobhraj will be handed over to the Department of Immigration once they get a letter from the Bhaktapur District Court today.

He was arrested on September 19, 2003.