Yahoo Finance How did Charles Sobhraj escape from Tihar Jail?
Charles Sobhraj is an international criminal mastermind who is convicted of a double murder he committed in 1975 in Nepal where he has been serving a life sentence since 2003.
After committing the murders, Sobhraj is said to have made his way into India the following year. By now, he had managed to create a mess in Thailand, after having murdered a whole lot of hippies, stealing their passports and valuables. The Thai Police had a warrant out for his arrest.
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In 1976 though, Sobhraj was struggling to make ends meet but saw an opportunity with a group of French post-graduate students who were visiting India on a vacation. Sobhraj didn’t just get them to accept him as their guide but also managed to win their confidence and poisoned them with pills that he said were anti-dysentery medicine.
After the plan went awry – the poison acted sooner than it was intended – Sobhraj was captured and arrested by the Delhi Police. Sobhraj was already wanted in the murder of one Jean-Luc Solomon who he had killed in Mumbai sometime earlier.
The crime landed him 12 years in prison and Sobhraj was sent to Tihar Jail. Here, Sobhraj thrived, using his connections to bribe the guards and the wardens and to get the best treatment one could get behind bars: Thing good food, booze, etc.
As per the law, following the end of his term, Indian authorities were supposed to hand him over to Thai Police where he awaited a death sentence. Therefore, towards the end of his 12-year sentence, Sobhraj plotted a daring escape.
Using his connections, he got a drug runner to deliver baskets of goodies to the security guards and wardens claiming that it was his birthday. The unsuspecting guards consumed the sweets and promptly fell unconscious.
Sobhraj then coolly walked out of the gates of one of India’s most heavily guarded and dreaded prisons.
