Solange Pezet, now 78, contributed to the arrest in 1976 of the French serial killer nicknamed “The Serpent” and recently expelled to France. She does not know at first the identity of the one who is then wanted by Interpol.
She rubbed shoulders with the killer closely. A Frenchwoman was part of the group of students who contributed to the 1976 arrest in India of French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, nicknamed “The Serpent”, who returned to France at the end of December after serving nearly forty years in prison in Nepal for murder. She confides almost forty years after the fact, in an interview published Wednesday in The Republic of the Pyrenees.
A “sympathetic” and “sexy” young man
The affair took place more than 40 years ago, but Solange Pezet, now 78, has not forgotten any detail. At the time, La Paloise was an English teacher and served as an interpreter for a group of engineering students on a graduation trip. A week in India is planned, then a week in Thailand.
During her stay, she meets a young Frenchman in New Delhi. He is the same age as her and claims to be called Alain Gauthier.
“He was handsome, friendly, sexy and drove a DS (typical car of the 1960s and 1970s editor’s note)”, she recalls.
The man, who is actually Charles Sobhraj, is already well known to international police services since he is wanted by Interpol. He pretends to be a dealer in precious stones and is suspected of crimes committed in Thailand.
“He gave us confidence”
The young man, accompanied by a friend and his companion, tries to bond with the group of French tourists spotted as “easy prey”.
“He was always where we were. He always mingled with the group… For a week, he gave us confidence,” says the young Paloise.
Solange Pezet remembers in particular that Charles Sobhraj seemed to be particularly interested in the passports held by the leader of his group.
“At the time, passports cost a fortune! (…) I think he was cornered. He wanted to make a big deal,” she says.
Drugs hidden in capsules
The trip takes an ominous turn the day before the students leave for Thailand. During the evening, many of them feel sick due to a tourist. It doesn’t take much for “The Serpent” to offer his help and bring medicine to relieve them.
“In fact, he had filled the drug capsules and the stamp, it was a sleeping pill”, assures the young English teacher.
Under the spell of the man who calls himself Alain Gauthier, several members of the group swallow the pills without doubting his good intentions. “He was so nice that I still remember that I spent my last rupees to offer him a gin and tonic!”, Says Solange Pezet.
Not feeling sick, the young woman initially chose not to take the pills. But Charles Sobhraj realizes this and pushes the performer to ingest them in turn. Solange Pezet complies, but then sees her traveling companions fall one after the other under the effect of drugs. Quickly, she is hit in turn.
“I felt my legs go numb. I saw myself dying,” she says.
Trapped by tourists
A member of the group suddenly realizes the deception and has the presence of mind to react. The emergency exits are hastily closed, “The Serpent” finds himself trapped.
The French consulate warned, the sick travelers were transported to the hospital and received emetics and gastric lavages. A person must be repatriated urgently to France, victim of heart problems.
It is then that the group discovers who their sympathetic interlocutor was and learns that his objective was to poison them in order to steal their money and their passports. If they were close to death, the French also understand that they finally contributed to the arrest of the murderer.
Nicknamed “The Serpent”, Charles Sobhraj, 78, is a French serial killer convicted in Nepal for the murder of two North American tourists, immortalized on screen by a recent series produced by Netflix. While he had already spent 21 years behind bars in India, he was sentenced in 2004 to life imprisonment for murder. He was finally released and expelled to France at the end of December by the Nepalese Supreme Court for health reasons.
