Kathmandu: Charles Sobhraj, the mastermind behind a string of crimes in Asia in the 1970s, on Wednesday failed to get a verdict from Nepal's Supreme Court on the charge of murdering an American backpacker in Kathmandu more than 30 years ago.
"I wish I had a crystal ball," a grim Sobhraj told IANS. "In Nepal, that's the only way you can function."
A two-member bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the status quo will be maintained in the murder case and ordered reopening of another fake passport case against him. Sobhraj, a 63-year-old French national, is accused by police in a number of Asian countries of killing more than 20 Western travellers.
He has been in a Kathmandu jail since he was arrested about four years ago as he gambled in a local casino. Sobhraj has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against the life sentence given to him by lower court in the murder of Connie Bronzich, whose body was found in a wheat field near Kathmandu in 1975.
Since he was arrested from a Kathmandu casino in 2003 and charged with various crimes, Sobhraj's luck seems to have deserted him.
His Nepal trials have been marked by inordinate delays, sometimes due to clerical error, at times due to Nepal's long religious festivals and once due to a shutdown in Kathmandu and the imposition of daytime curfew.
The Supreme Court deferred a judgment in the case on November 25, reportedly because on one of two judges on the bench had attend his daughter’s wedding. Earlier on November 4, a decision was deferred because one of the judges was out of station.
Sobhraj is known as the "Serpent" for his skills in disguise and escape and his crimes across Asia have spawned two books and a movie.
(With PTI, IANS and Reuters)
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