French ‘bikini killer’ has heart surgery
A FRENCH serial killer nicknamed the “bikini killer” for a string of murders throughout Asia in the 1970s is recovering after having open heart surgery in Nepal yesterday.
Charles Sobhraj, 73, who is 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 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,” the surgeon said.
The ageing conman – who has been implicated in more than 20 killings – was under tight security in hospital because of threats made against his life, his wife said.
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 1960s and 70s.
Two of his victims were found wearing only bikinis, earning him the sobriquet the bikini killer.
Sobhraj – a French citizen of Vietnamese and Indian parentage – was also known as The Serpent for his repeated identity thefts and escapes from justice.
He spent 21 years in jail in India for culpable homicide for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli man. He was released in 1997.
The law caught up with him again in Nepal in 2004 when he was jailed for the killing of US tourist Connie Joe Bronzich in 1975.
In 2014, he was handed a second life sentence for the killing of Canadian backpacker Laurent Carriere.