In March 1986, Sobhraj escaped from the high-security Tihar Jail after drugging policemen and fellow convicts. He was recaptured soon after in Goa, by Mumbai cop Madhukar Zende who had arrested the criminal earlier in 1971.
On February 5, 1997, a Delhi court ruled that Sobhraj had already remained in jail for a ‘period more than the maximum punishment prescribed’ under the law.
In an effort to get him out of the country as quickly as possible, weapon charges against him were dropped, he was granted bail and deported to France after a 47-day standoff in which French authorities verified his nationality and Indian officials threatened to dump him in the French embassy.
The April 1997 photograph shows Sobhraj getting out of a van at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to board a flight to France.
Photo: Sondeep Shankar/Saab Press
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