<p>French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, responsible for multiple murders in the 1970s across Asia, told <em>AFP</em> he felt "great" after being released from prison in Nepal where he served almost 20 years.</p>.<p>"I feel great... I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal," Sobhraj told <em>AFP</em> on board a plane for his deportation to France.</p>.<p>Asked if he thought he had been wrongly described as a serial killer, the 78-year-old said: "Yes, yes."</p>.<p>Nepal's top court ruled on Wednesday that he should be freed on health grounds and deported to France within 15 days.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/french-serial-killer-charles-sobhraj-released-from-nepal-jail-set-to-be-deported-to-france-1174393.html" target="_blank">French serial killer Charles Sobhraj released from Nepal jail, set to be deported to France</a></strong></p>.<p>On Friday, he was released and put on a flight at Kathmandu airport to take him via Doha to Paris, where he was due to land early on Saturday.</p>.<p>Sobhraj's life was chronicled in the series <em>The Serpent</em> co-produced by Netflix and the <em>BBC.</em></p>.<p>Born in Saigon to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother who later married a Frenchman, Sobhraj embarked on an international life of crime and ended up in Thailand in 1975.</p>.<p>Posing as a gem trader, he would befriend his victims, many of them Western backpackers on the 1970s hippie trail, before drugging, robbing and murdering them.</p>.<p>Suave and sophisticated, he was implicated in the murder of a young American woman whose body was found on a beach wearing a bikini in 1975.</p>.<p>Nicknamed the "bikini killer", he was eventually linked to more than 20 murders.</p>.<p>He was arrested in India in 1976 and ultimately spent 21 years in jail there, with a brief break in 1986 when he drugged prison guards and escaped. He was recaptured in the Indian coastal state of Goa.</p>.<p>Released in 1997, Sobhraj lived in Paris, giving paid interviews to journalists, but went back to Nepal in 2003.</p>.<p>He was spotted in a casino playing baccarat by journalist Joseph Nathan, one of the founders of the Himalayan Times newspaper, and arrested.</p>.<p>"He looked harmless... It was sheer luck that I recognised him," Nathan told <em>AFP</em> on Thursday. "I think it was karma."</p>.<p>A court in Nepal handed Sobhraj a life sentence the following year for killing US tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. A decade later, he was also found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian companion.</p>.<p>Behind bars, Sobhraj maintained he was innocent of both murders and claimed he had never been to Nepal before the trip that resulted in his arrest.</p>.<p>"I really didn't do it, and I think I will be out," he told <em>AFP</em> in 2007 during an interview at Kathmandu's Central Jail.</p>.<p>Thai police officer Sompol Suthimai, whose work with Interpol was instrumental in securing the 1976 arrest, had pushed for him to be extradited to Thailand and tried for murders there.</p>.<p>But on Thursday, he told <em>AFP</em> that he did not object to the release, as both he and the criminal he once pursued were now too old.</p>.<p>"I don't have any feelings towards him now that it's been so long," said Suthimai, 90. "I think he has already paid for his actions."</p>
<p>French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, responsible for multiple murders in the 1970s across Asia, told <em>AFP</em> he felt "great" after being released from prison in Nepal where he served almost 20 years.</p>.<p>"I feel great... I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal," Sobhraj told <em>AFP</em> on board a plane for his deportation to France.</p>.<p>Asked if he thought he had been wrongly described as a serial killer, the 78-year-old said: "Yes, yes."</p>.<p>Nepal's top court ruled on Wednesday that he should be freed on health grounds and deported to France within 15 days.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/french-serial-killer-charles-sobhraj-released-from-nepal-jail-set-to-be-deported-to-france-1174393.html" target="_blank">French serial killer Charles Sobhraj released from Nepal jail, set to be deported to France</a></strong></p>.<p>On Friday, he was released and put on a flight at Kathmandu airport to take him via Doha to Paris, where he was due to land early on Saturday.</p>.<p>Sobhraj's life was chronicled in the series <em>The Serpent</em> co-produced by Netflix and the <em>BBC.</em></p>.<p>Born in Saigon to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother who later married a Frenchman, Sobhraj embarked on an international life of crime and ended up in Thailand in 1975.</p>.<p>Posing as a gem trader, he would befriend his victims, many of them Western backpackers on the 1970s hippie trail, before drugging, robbing and murdering them.</p>.<p>Suave and sophisticated, he was implicated in the murder of a young American woman whose body was found on a beach wearing a bikini in 1975.</p>.<p>Nicknamed the "bikini killer", he was eventually linked to more than 20 murders.</p>.<p>He was arrested in India in 1976 and ultimately spent 21 years in jail there, with a brief break in 1986 when he drugged prison guards and escaped. He was recaptured in the Indian coastal state of Goa.</p>.<p>Released in 1997, Sobhraj lived in Paris, giving paid interviews to journalists, but went back to Nepal in 2003.</p>.<p>He was spotted in a casino playing baccarat by journalist Joseph Nathan, one of the founders of the Himalayan Times newspaper, and arrested.</p>.<p>"He looked harmless... It was sheer luck that I recognised him," Nathan told <em>AFP</em> on Thursday. "I think it was karma."</p>.<p>A court in Nepal handed Sobhraj a life sentence the following year for killing US tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. A decade later, he was also found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian companion.</p>.<p>Behind bars, Sobhraj maintained he was innocent of both murders and claimed he had never been to Nepal before the trip that resulted in his arrest.</p>.<p>"I really didn't do it, and I think I will be out," he told <em>AFP</em> in 2007 during an interview at Kathmandu's Central Jail.</p>.<p>Thai police officer Sompol Suthimai, whose work with Interpol was instrumental in securing the 1976 arrest, had pushed for him to be extradited to Thailand and tried for murders there.</p>.<p>But on Thursday, he told <em>AFP</em> that he did not object to the release, as both he and the criminal he once pursued were now too old.</p>.<p>"I don't have any feelings towards him now that it's been so long," said Suthimai, 90. "I think he has already paid for his actions."</p>