Sobhraj’s plan to escape jail foiled

Notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who is serving a life sentence in a Kathmandu jail, has made an attempt to escape, but police today claimed to have foiled it by unearthing an e-mail sent from his laptop, asking a friend to help drug prison guards.

Authorities seized a laptop, a mobile phone and a cordless phone from the prison cell of Sobhraj, known as ‘The Serpent’, and discovered the mail asking for some specific chemicals to drug the prison guards, spokesman of the Nepal Police Ramesh Singh said. The criminal, known for his talent for disguise and escape, had given a list of chemicals that could make people unconscious and sought arrangements for taking him to India and then to France, a police official said.

The home ministry had formed a three-member inquiry committee last week to investigate reports that Sobhraj was being allowed to use a mobile phone inside the jail.

Sobhraj, a French national, was sentenced to life by a Nepalese court in August, after holding him guilty of murdering American woman Konizo Brohich here in December 1975. Last week, he had filed an appeal with Nepal’s appellate court on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.