<p>Journalist Joseph Nathan went for food at a Kathmandu casino one night in 2003 but ended up with the scoop of his life: French serial killer Charles Sobhraj was there playing baccarat.</p>.<p>His resulting article in the <em>Himalayan Times</em> led to the arrest of Sobhraj and his incarceration -- which ended on Friday -- for just two of the smooth-talking killer's many murders across Asia in the 1970s.</p>.<p>"He was like an old man. You wouldn't give him a second look. He looked harmless... It was sheer luck that I recognised him. I think it was karma," Nathan told <em>AFP </em>in an interview.</p>.<p>Ending up in Thailand in the mid-1970s after a youth of travel and crime, Sobhraj was linked to more than 20 murders, many of them young foreigners on the Asian hippie trail.</p>.<p>Justice eventually caught up with him in India in 1976 when he was arrested and imprisoned in Delhi's Tihar jail, where he escaped after drugging prison guards but was recaptured.</p>.<p>Upon release, he moved to France but travelled to Nepal in 2003, apparently believing that authorities there had nothing on him, Nathan said.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/the-serpent-serial-killer-charles-sobhraj-leaves-nepali-jail-1174322.html" target="_blank">'The Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj leaves Nepali jail</a></strong></p>.<p>However, he was still wanted for murdering two backpackers in 1975 and it was his bad luck that the Indian journalist happened to recognise him, even without his trademark beret.</p>.<p>"The casino manager was a friend of mine and we watched him together on the security camera," said Nathan, editorial adviser at the <em>Himalayan Times</em> and one of its founders.</p>.<p>"I posted a photographer around the clock at his hotel, which was a cheap hotel. Every night he was playing baccarat at the casino."</p>.<p>In the meantime Nathan dug around and managed to secure from the hotel manager a copy of Sobhraj's passport. He had checked in under an alias.</p>.<p>"On the 12th or 13th day I followed him into the loo and asked him if he was Charles Sobhraj," Nathan told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"He said: 'Is that a Bollywood actor?' Then I knew I had him. The same night I wrote the story... and the following day he was picked up at the casino (by police)."</p>.<p>Sobhraj, now 78 and with heart problems, according to his lawyer, was released from prison on Friday to be deported back to France.</p>.<p>Nathan said he thinks the decision is fair.</p>.<p>"It was time he was released as he has already served his sentence in accordance with Nepal's law," he said.</p>.<p>However, like other protagonists, Nathan is unhappy with the hit Netflix/BBC series <em>The Serpent</em> about Sobhraj's life, not least for changing the name of his newspaper.</p>.<p>"It was the greatest scoop," he said. "But Netflix changed the name of our newspaper in its mini-series. We contemplated suing them."</p>
<p>Journalist Joseph Nathan went for food at a Kathmandu casino one night in 2003 but ended up with the scoop of his life: French serial killer Charles Sobhraj was there playing baccarat.</p>.<p>His resulting article in the <em>Himalayan Times</em> led to the arrest of Sobhraj and his incarceration -- which ended on Friday -- for just two of the smooth-talking killer's many murders across Asia in the 1970s.</p>.<p>"He was like an old man. You wouldn't give him a second look. He looked harmless... It was sheer luck that I recognised him. I think it was karma," Nathan told <em>AFP </em>in an interview.</p>.<p>Ending up in Thailand in the mid-1970s after a youth of travel and crime, Sobhraj was linked to more than 20 murders, many of them young foreigners on the Asian hippie trail.</p>.<p>Justice eventually caught up with him in India in 1976 when he was arrested and imprisoned in Delhi's Tihar jail, where he escaped after drugging prison guards but was recaptured.</p>.<p>Upon release, he moved to France but travelled to Nepal in 2003, apparently believing that authorities there had nothing on him, Nathan said.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/the-serpent-serial-killer-charles-sobhraj-leaves-nepali-jail-1174322.html" target="_blank">'The Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj leaves Nepali jail</a></strong></p>.<p>However, he was still wanted for murdering two backpackers in 1975 and it was his bad luck that the Indian journalist happened to recognise him, even without his trademark beret.</p>.<p>"The casino manager was a friend of mine and we watched him together on the security camera," said Nathan, editorial adviser at the <em>Himalayan Times</em> and one of its founders.</p>.<p>"I posted a photographer around the clock at his hotel, which was a cheap hotel. Every night he was playing baccarat at the casino."</p>.<p>In the meantime Nathan dug around and managed to secure from the hotel manager a copy of Sobhraj's passport. He had checked in under an alias.</p>.<p>"On the 12th or 13th day I followed him into the loo and asked him if he was Charles Sobhraj," Nathan told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"He said: 'Is that a Bollywood actor?' Then I knew I had him. The same night I wrote the story... and the following day he was picked up at the casino (by police)."</p>.<p>Sobhraj, now 78 and with heart problems, according to his lawyer, was released from prison on Friday to be deported back to France.</p>.<p>Nathan said he thinks the decision is fair.</p>.<p>"It was time he was released as he has already served his sentence in accordance with Nepal's law," he said.</p>.<p>However, like other protagonists, Nathan is unhappy with the hit Netflix/BBC series <em>The Serpent</em> about Sobhraj's life, not least for changing the name of his newspaper.</p>.<p>"It was the greatest scoop," he said. "But Netflix changed the name of our newspaper in its mini-series. We contemplated suing them."</p>