From Tihar Jail To Eternity

Where does Charles Gurmukh head from Tihar? Will it be a Studio apartment on the Left Bank of the Seine or a barsati on the right bank of the Yamuna? Right at the moment, he is restricted to the police complex at Lodhi colony while a three cornered tug of war between the Indian authorities, the French Embassy and the master criminal is fought to a conclusion.

On Sunday, senior officials of the Delhi administration held a high level meeting with the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO). The one item on the agenda was Sobhraj and his housing problem. The Indian authorities want him out of the country. The French authorities dont particularly want him back. The man himself wants his French Passport back and he also wants to continue residing in India which is The safest place in the world. according to him.

 

The Indian authorities are uncomfortable with the possible scenario of the French national born of mixed Indo-Vietnamese parentage, walking their streets as a private citizen who has served his time, paid his debt to society, and self-confessedly, reformed. The last statement is understandably being seasoned with a couple of tonnes of salt where the forces of law and order are concerned. The 53-year old has repeatedly shown an uncanny knack for planning and executing tortuously criminal deeds and then brilliantly manipulating his way through the labyrinth of Indian law enforcement to maximal advantage.

With his magnetic personality and high levels of general intelligence, he has also made a number of devoted friends who have been willing to defend him in court, write books about him, stand bail for him, etc. His lawyer Rajan Bakshi is better known as the cable TV king of Delhi, while the wife of Captain Rathour of the Samba spy scandal stood surety for him. In addition there are all the women who have floated in and out of his life such as Sneh Sengar, Jacqueline Kuster, Marie Leclerc, Hoinu and Filley from Chandigarh who is currently supposed to be desperate to marry the mastermind.

Reportedly he lived a life of five-star luxury in Tihar, though it is a mystery where the wherewithal for that was forthcoming. It may be assumed that his desire to continue living in India stems from access to an easy lifestyle here. It is likely that if he is repatriated to France his ability to maintain himself in a style to which jailbirds are rarely accustomed would be seriously affected.

Charles Sobhraj is one man who has made a laughing stock out of the Indian law enforcement authorities and legal system. After carrying out a spectacular series of drug-laced murders and jewels thefts across South East Asia he had nearly served out his Indian jail sentences in March 1986. However the spectre of extradition to Thailand where he had been tried and sentenced to death in absentia remained.

That was when he made his spectacular drug-assisted jailbreak and headed for Goa from where a Bombay police team led by Inspector Madhukar Zende arrested him without any resistance from the O Coqeiro Bar. Incidentally Zende was also prominently involved in his previous arrest. Be that as it may, he served an extra ten years in Tihar as a result of that abortive jailbreak.

Meanwhile, the Thai warrant expired in December 1995, and since the Thais have a statute of limitations on their cases, Sobhraj ceased to be a wanted man In Thailand. To this day, the impression remains that he escaped from jail solely in order to ensure that the warrant lapsed. The two-decade incarceration also incidentally ensured that any disgrunlted former colleagues who would have liked to have meted out rough justice to the man have also lost their edge. Meanwhile, as the world turned through its seasons, he read law, watched TV and corresponded with a variety of people. He also made friends such as Captain Rathaur who was a fellow Tihar alumnus.

Little wonder that the Indian authorities would like him out of here. For the last three weeks, a game of cat and mouse has proceeded as Sobhraj has been held over on one flimsy charge or another. Meanwhile, the French are being persuaded to repatriate him to Paris rather than simply give him a passport and let him run loose.

So glad would the Indian government be to get shut of Sobhraj that the Bombay police has dropped charges pertaining to a 1975 jewel theft in Colaba. The charges are unlikely to stick anyway. The fear is that he would get bail and continue to milk the case as a reason to continue living in India. However, it was decided to bring the current charges pertaining to his lack of valid travel document via the FRRO in order to keep him off the streets.

The French embassy is understandably tightlipped about the whole imbroglio. The official line is Yes, he is a French National and of course, we have discussed his case. But passports and visas of our citizens etc, are personal details which is against our policy to make statements about. Yes, we would be glad if we can find a solution that is satisfactory to the Indian authorities...

The problem for the French could be that Sobhraj does not have outstanding cases against him in France or anywhere else except Bombay. Hence, repatriate him from India they might, but then he would be a free man on the streets of Paris instead. Not an enticing prospect for the Surete or Interpol.

The soap opera continues with Sobhraj playing straight man for the first time in his life. Given that the man is a creative thinker with a black belt in bureaucratic judo, his next action maybe to demand Indian citizenship by right of blood through his Sikh father. Assuming he is determined to live here. Or for that matter, he may set up a contract marriage with some Indian citizen. That would really set the cat among the pigeons wouldnt it?