Charles Sobhraj ties the knot with his 20 yrs old Nepali Girlfriend

The 20-year-old woman triggered a media frenzy on Thursday, calling up a well-known newspaper office in New Delhi and claiming that she had got married “in traditional Nepali style” to the 64-year-old convicted killer inside Kathmandu’s Central Jail on Thursday. It was confirmed by her elder brother Vijay Thapa, who however said that the “wedding” was a “very brief ceremony” and “much more still needed to be done”.

The prison authorities dismissed the claim on Friday, saying they had allowed Nihita and her family only to conduct a tika ceremony, along with the relatives of hundreds of other prisoners. It was not a wedding but part of the ongoing Dashain festival, when elders put the vermilion mark on the foreheads of those younger to them to signify their blessings.

Prison guards, who have been keeping watch over Sobhraj since 2003, when he was arrested for the murder of an American backpacker in 1975 and put behind bars, told TNN that they had seen the Frenchman go through the same antics at least four times before.

According to them, he would tell them that he was ready to pay a monthly “salary” of NRS 3000-4000 for a goffer, who would be required to buy his food stuff and convey his messages to his lawyers and others. The excuse would get him in contact with young Nepali women.

“There were at least four young Nepali girls before Nihita,” the policemen said. “They all claimed to have relations with him. One of them even wore a ring, saying they had been married.”

The policemen said that the women distanced themselves from Sobhraj when they realised that he was not the fabulously rich man he was made out to be. “We have heard him repeatedly call up his French wife and plead with her to send him money. She sends lump sums from time to time on which he subsists.”

On Thursday, Nepal celebrated Bada Dashami, the 10th day of its biggest Hindu festival Dashain, traditionally regarded as an auspicious day for weddings. While pairs headed for temples to say “I do”, for 64-year-old Sobhraj, it was a more sombre ceremony in Kathmandu’s Central Jail where he has been serving a life sentence for murder.

The bride wore a pink T-shirt and trousers while Sobhraj kept his trademark cap as they exchanged vows and tikas, the red vermilion mark. He was allowed to come out of his cell and in the presence of curious prison guards and other inmates, the short ceremony was conducted to make them husband and wife.

The "marriage" comes after their engagement in July following Nihita's visit to the prison to offer to interpret for Sobhraj's visiting French lawyer, a visit which both say resulted in love at first sight.

However, like the whirlwind romance that was marked by controversy, the wedding is also going to be controversial. There was no priest though the bride’s brother and mother Shakuntala Thapa turned up to show their support. Thapa, a leading lawyer, is also fighting Sobhraj’s case in Supreme Court, challenging a lower court decision that declared him guilty of the murder of an American backpacker, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975.

Sobhraj’s appeal will be heard on October 19, after Nepal’s courts reopen after the long holiday break. If he is set free by the apex court, as Nihita claims it will, the couple plan to proceed to France and get married in accordance with French laws.

The wedding is Sobhraj’s second one, though in between he had several girlfriends and a common law wife of Chinese origin with whom he has a daughter. The newlyweds have decided that the daughter, now six, will live with them.

Sobhraj’s only recorded and official wedding was to a French woman who divorced him during his imprisonment in India and later married an American.