Harles Gurumukh Sobhraj Hotchand Bhawnani (born 6 April 1944) is a French serial murderer, fraudster, and thief who preyed on Western tourists traveling through South Asia on the hippie path in the 1970s.
His parents were never married, and his father denied being his father. Sobhraj, who was stateless at the time, was taken in by his mother’s new husband, a French Army officer stationed in French Indochina. He felt overlooked in favor of the couple’s later children there. Sobhraj and his family continued to travel between Southeast Asia and France.
Why is Charles Sobhraj called The Serpent?
He is known as ‘The Serpent’ because of his talent for deceit and evasion. He has been charged with over 20 killings and served 21 years in jail in India for the death of an Israeli person and the poisoning of a French tourist.
Sobhraj has earned that name due to his penchant for preying on young women, particularly young western travelers.
In Thailand, he earned this moniker after the body of a young woman was discovered on Pattaya beach in 1975.
His strategy was to entice and befriend his victims, who were primarily Westen travelers, before drugging, robbing, and killing them.
Sobhraj is claimed to have heart problems. He has already admitted to murdering many Western visitors.
