Charles Sobhraj due to be freed from Nepal prison

A former Nepalese police officer who was instrumental in the high-profile arrest of the notorious French serial killer Charles Sobhraj in 2003 on Thursday said it was the painful childhood memory of the sight of a half-burnt body of a slain American woman in a river here that spurred him to become a detective.Ganesh KC was 40 and the Deputy Police Superintendent in 2003 when he nabbed Sobhraj from a casino in Kathmandu.Nepal’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of Sobhraj, 78, a Frenchman of Indian and Vietnamese parentage, who has been in jail here for close to two decades on murder charges.”I was barely 12 when I saw people rushing near the Manahara river in Kathmandu to get a glimpse of the dead body of Connie Jo Bronzich, the American backpacker who was killed by Sobhraj,” he told PTI.Bronzich and Canadian friend Laurent Carriere were the two backpackers killed by Sobhraj in 1976.It was only ironic that 27 years later, Ganesh would be entrusted with the task of hunting down the serial killer.Ganesh recounted with glee the chain of events that lead to Sobhraj’s sensational arrest.