Charles Sobhraj (The Serpent), is a French thief, fraudster, and serial killer of Vietnamese and Indian origin who preyed on Western tourists, mainly beatniks, throughout the Hippie Trail of Southeast Asia during the 1970s. He was nicknamed The Splitting Killer and The Serpent, due to his skill at deception and evasion, as well as the Bikini Killer due to the attire of his victims. Sobhraj allegedly killed a dozen people and was convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997. After his release, he retired as a celebrity in Paris. Sobhraj returned to Nepal in 2003, where he was arrested, tried, and received a sentence of life imprisonment.