Charles Sobhraj - Early Years

Early Years

Sobhraj was born as Gurmukh Sobhraj to an unwed Vietnamese mother and an Indian Sindhi father in Saigon. The father soon deserted the family. Stateless at first, he was adopted by his mother's new boyfriend, a French army lieutenant stationed in Indochina. However, he was neglected in favor of the couple's later children. Sobhraj continued to move back and forth between France and Indochina with the family, not feeling at home in either place. As a teenager he developed personality problems and turned to petty crime.

Sobhraj received his first jail sentence (for burglary) in 1963, serving at Poissy prison near Paris However, not only did he weather the harsh conditions of jail, he managed to manipulate the prison official into granting him special favors like being allowed to keep books in his cell, etc. At around the same time he met and endeared himself to Felix d'Escogne, a wealthy young man and prison volunteer.

After being paroled, Sobhraj moved in with d'Escogne and shared his time between moving in the high society of Paris and the criminal underworld. He soon started accumulating riches through a series of scams and burglaries. During this time, he met and began a relationship with Chantal Compagnon who was from a conservative Parisian family. On the night he proposed to her, Sobhraj was arrested for evading police while driving a stolen car. He was sentenced back to prison time in Poissy for eight months. Chantal remained supportive during his prison time. Sobhraj and Chantal were married upon his release.

Soon after, facing mounting suspicions by French authorities, he and a now pregnant Chantal left France for Asia to escape arrest. After traveling through Eastern Europe with fake documents and robbing people who befriended them, they arrived in Mumbai in 1970. Here Chantal gave birth to a baby girl. While in Mumbai, the couple made a good impression on the expatriate community there. In the meantime, Sobhraj resumed his criminal lifestyle by running a car theft and smuggling operation. The profits from this operation of which were used towards his growing gambling addiction.

In 1970, Sobhraj was arrested and imprisoned after an unsuccessful armed robbery attempt on a jewellery store in Hotel Ashoka. Sobhraj did manage to escape with Chantal's help and faking illness, but they were re-captured shortly afterwards. He borrowed money for bail from his father in Saigon and soon after fled to Kabul in Afghanistan.

In Kabul, the couple continued robbing tourists on the "hippie trail" only to be arrested once again. But Sobhraj escaped, the same way he had in India, feigning illness and drugging the hospital guard. This time Sobhraj fled to Iran leaving his family behind. Chantal, although still loyal to him, wishing to leave their criminal past behind, returned to France and vowed never to see him again.

Sobhraj spent the next two years on the run, using as many as 10 stolen passports and visiting several countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He was joined in Istanbul by André, his younger brother. Sobhraj and André quickly became partners in many crimes in both Turkey and Greece. Both were eventually arrested in Athens. After an identity-switch plan gone wrong, Sobhraj escaped in his usual manner, but his brother was left behind. André was turned over to the Turkish police by Greek authorities. He had to serve an 18-year sentence.