Charles Sobhraj was sharper than any ordinary criminal and always used to carry a weapon, recalled retired police officer Madhukar Zende. The 84-year-old assistant commissioner of police had arrested the serial killer twice while serving in the Mumbai Crime Branch. Sobhraj, also known as the ‘Bikini Killer’, will be released from prison in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Friday, after serving over 19 years of his sentence.

Zende first arrested Charles in 1971, during his posting at Gamdevi police station. “I got information from one of my informants that a foreign national was planning to rob the Air India building, which was then located in Fort. I went there and found that he was armed with weapons and had stored bullets in a chocolate box. He had a foolproof plan to rob the Air India building. I managed to arrest him after which the Delhi cops came to Mumbai and took his custody in a robbery case filed there,” he told mid-day.