On July 30, 2010 the Nepal Supreme Court held the 66-year-old Charles Sobhraj guilty of murdering US national Connie Joe Bronzich in Kathmandu about 35 years ago and upheld a 20-year life sentence slapped on him by a district court in 2004, as Justices Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Gauri Dhakal announced in their verdict. The court also ordered the seizure of all his properties.
Charles Sobhraj is also defending another case in Nepal pending against him in the Bhaktapur District Court for the murder of a Canadian born tourist Laurent Armand Carriere.
After dismissing his 'not guilty' plea in the murder case, Nepal's Supreme Court has now demolished the claim by the international master criminal Charles Sobhraj and his Nepali girlfriend Nihita Biswas that they are married. The court was gearing a contempt of court case against her and her mother Shakuntala Thapa. The duo had overreacted against the court’s order, and told the media that the judges were bribed into passing orders against Sobhraj. Nihita’s mother Shakuntala Thapa was also Sobhraj's lawyer.
The court observed that Nihita Biswas and her mother Shakuntala Thapa could not claim to be related to Sobhraj, now a French citizen, because there is no legal evidence that Nihita and Sobhraj were married.
Nihita Biswas first met Charles Sobhraj in Kathmandu's Central Prison in 2008 after he had been sentenced to 20-year jail term for the murder of American backpacker Connie Joe Bronzich in Kathmandu in 1975. The couple sad they fell in love at first sight and their courtship went undeterred right under the eyes of the prison guards and other prisoners.
Nihita claims she and Sobhraj underwent traditional Nepali rites to become man and wife last year during celebrations of Dashain, Nepal's biggest religious festival. Since then the 22-year-old Nihita Biswas has been describing herself as the wife of Charles Sobhraj, aged 66, who is internationally known as The Bikini Killer, who faces 12 confirmed murders and several unconfirmed murders of of mostly western women tourists in several countries.
When the judges asked the women to produce the marriage certificate, Nihita said she did not have a certificate but possessed photographs of the marriage inside prison. Her claim was dismissed by the judges saying if they could not produce any legal certificate, they would not be able to call themselves Sobhraj's wife and mother-in-law and use that as an explanation for their conduct of maligning the judiciary.
When the judges also asked if they would be willing to apologize in full media glare, since they had insulted the court in full media glare, lawyers representing the two women said they were ready to do so. The court has adjourned the case for August 22.
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