‘Bikini killer’ has heart surgery in Nepal

kathmandu — A French serial killer nicknamed the “bikini killer” for a string of murders throughout Asia in the 1970s was recovering after having open heart surgery in Nepal on Monday, his wife and a doctor said.

Charles Sobhraj, 73, who is currently serving a life sentence for two murders in Kathmandu in 1975, underwent a five-hour surgery to repair the valves in his heart.

“The good news is that the operation was a success,” Sobhraj’s wife Nihita Biswas said.

“It was a four-hour surgery but they had to extend it for another hour because they found that the other valve was also damaged. Right now they say that he’s stable.”

Raamesh Koirala — one of three surgeons involved in the complicated procedure — said Sobhraj would remain sedated for 24 hours.

“We cannot say he is out of danger for 24 hours and maybe longer. But the operation was normal,” said the surgeon, who is a distant relative of Biswas.

The ageing conman — who has been implicated in more than 20 killings — is under tight security in hospital because of threats made against his life, his wife said.

“We did not want the surgery to happen in Nepal because we do not trust Nepal. That is why we got a doctor who is related to the family to do the surgery,” she said of Koirala.

Sobhraj is expected to remain in intensive care for at least four days. The Frenchman earned worldwide notoriety for a series of poisonings and robberies of backpackers across Asia in the 60s and 70s. —