In his first remarks after being released from a prison in Kathmandu, French serial killer Charles Sobhraj on Friday said he would sue a lot of people, including the state of Nepal, AFP reported. After being released from jail in Nepal, where he served almost 20 years for a string of murders of backpackers across Asia in the 1970s, Sobhraj was deported to France.
Sobhraj said he felt "great" about being given his freedom, but would be seeking legal action against the Nepalese government.
"I feel great...I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal," AFP quoted Sobhraj, known as "bikini killer" and "serpent", as saying.
READ | Life Of Charles Sobhraj, The 'Bikini Killer' — A Timeline
Sobhraj, born to Indian father and Vietnamese mother, has been barred from entering Nepal for the next ten years. His release came two days after the Nepal Supreme Court ordered that he be freed and deported to his home country.
Sobhraj was serving a life-term in the Kathmandu jail since 2003 for the murder of American woman Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975 in Nepal. In 2014, he was convicted of killing Laurent Carriere, a Canadian backpacker, and given a second life sentence.
Sobhraj has been linked to more than 20 killings between 1972 and 1982, in which the victims were drugged, strangled, beaten or burned.
He is known as "Bikini Killer" because of what some of his victims were wearing when he killed them. His first murder was an American woman found on a beach in Pattaya in a bikini. He is also called "the Serpent" for his skill at deception and evasion after he broke jail and escaped a few times.
Sobhraj also served 21 years in prison in India for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli national. His dramatic jailbreak at the highly-guarded Tihar jail in 1986 hogged headlines across the world.
Sobhraj managed to flee by drugging security guards, whom he had served sweets on the pretext of celebrating his birthday. However, he was soon caught in a restaurant in Goa.
Released from India in 1997, Sobhraj went back to France but was spotted in Nepal in 2003 when he began his jail sentence of 20 years.
(With inputs from agencies)