How Sobhraj tried another jailbreak with a ballpen

Charles Sobhraj, the alleged serial killer, con man and prison escape artist who is serving a life sentence for murdering an American tourist in Nepal, may be up to his old tricks of bribery and manipulation to seek freedom.

Security guards at Kathmandu's Central jail recently discovered that Sobhraj was secretly trying to transfer NRS 500 inside a ballpen, which was gifted to his lawyer and "mother-in-law" Shanuntala Thapa.

The jail security found NRs 500 rolled inside the ballpen instead of refill when the lid was taken out, according to jail authorities.

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It is believed that the 66-year-old "Bikini killer" may be trying to probe the security inside the jail.

Sobhraj, a French national whose father was an Indian and mother a Vietnamese, is well-known for playing tricks with security guards. He has escaped from prisons in Afghanistan and India by drugging security guards.

In the 1980s, he walked out of New Delhi's Tihar jail by offering sedative-laced sweets to guards.

In November 2004, a plot to escape from the central jail was uncovered. Sobhraj has spent over seven years in the prison.

A couple of months earlier, an Indian contract killer had opened fire at Yunush Ansari, a controversial private television entrepreneur, who is serving a jail sentence after convicted in counterfeit currency racket.

Sobhraj was one of the suspects in the attempted murder. Since then the jail authorities have tightened security for Sobhraj.