Black Warrant: Charles Sobhraj escaped from Tihar after drugging officers with sedative-laced barfi, reveals real-life Sunil Gupta

Sunil then recalled the events of the day and said that Charles was pretending to celebrate his birthday on that Sunday. “He said that I am celebrating my birthday. He chose a Sunday for that, also because on that day, we function with a skeleton staff. One of his guys brought in some sedatives. Charles ordered for some barfi and laced with the sedatives. After that, he served it to everyone who held an important position, or was on duty, he gave them some barfi and a Rs 50 note. Currency wasn’t allowed inside the jail in those days but people like him, always found a way,” he said.

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Sunil said that the officers on duty ate the barfi and wished him on his birthday. But the amount of sedative in the sweet was quite high so it started taking effect in 5-10 minutes. “It was a Sunday and there wasn’t much movement. He comfortably opened the lock, and got out,” he said.

There was a nationwide manhunt for Charles after his escape. He was found after almost a month in Goa and served his remaining sentence of 10 years in Tihar Jail. After his jail term in Tihar, Charles was imprisoned in Nepal. In 2022, he was released from the jail in Nepal on grounds of old age and was deported to his home country of France.