Nepal:'Bikini killer' Sobhraj tries to woo Maoists

Notorious 'bikini killer' Charles Shobhraj, who is serving a life term in a prison in Kathmandu for the murder of an American tourist, has now approached the former rebel Maoists, seeking 'justice and protection'.

In similar letters written to Maoist chief Prachanda, second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami, who is also the Physical Planning and Works Minister, the French national has alleged that he was being ill-treated in the Central Jail here and wanted justice.

The 64-year-old, a half-Vietnamese and half-Indian, was arrested in Kathmandu in 2003 and awarded the life term by a Nepalese court. He is fighting a legal battle to overturn his sentence and had in the past appealed to King Gyanendra asking for pardon, which was rejected.

Seeking to woo the Maoists, who are set to lead a coalition government after surging to an unexpected victory in the landmark Constituent Assembly polls, Sobhraj said in the letter that he was being treated badly in prison after he made a humanitarian gesture to a Maoist supporter.

Last month, he had written a letter to a local daily offering to pay for the education of a girl, who was kicked out of her home by her parents after they found out that she had voted for the former rebels during the polls.

After this, he said, his cell was raided by prison authorities, who have curbed his right to meet visitors.

Sobhraj also claimed that he had arranged medical help for a fellow Maoist prisoner.