Nepal court to decide fate of Charles Sobhraj today

Kathmandu, July 14 : The Supreme Court of Nepal will decide today an appeal filed by Charles Sobhraj, the bikini killer, against a district courts verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975.

Kathmandu District Court had slapped a life imprisonment to Sobhraj on this case.

Sobhraj appealed the district court''s verdict at Patan Appellate Court, which approved the district court''s verdict. Then, he filed another appeal at the Supreme Court on November 10, 2005.

Earlier, Sobhraj''s lawyers argued that there was no concrete evidence to convict him in the three-decade-old murder case.

Sobhraj is also accused of killing over 20 young western backpackers across Asia, usually by drugging their food or drink, while on a criminal spree in the 1970s and 1980s.

Thailand issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of drugging and killing six girls, all wearing bikinis, at the beach resort town of Pattaya in 1975. He was jailed in India before he could stand trial on those charges.

A master of disguise and escape, Sobhraj served more than two decades in and out of Indian jails on a string of charges including murder and robbery before returning to France in 1997.

Born to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother, his criminal exploits across Asia have been the subject of a film, two books and countless newspaper and magazine articles.