NEW DELHI, India Charles Sobhraj, a French national wanted by several countries for allegedly drugging and robbing tourists, escaped with six other prisoners from jail Sunday after drugging prison guards, police said

Authorities sealed the city’s limits as rifle wielding police searched vehicles at intersections for the ‘escapees.

Inspector Randhir Singh of the police control room told The Associated Press that the prisoners escaped from New Delhi’s main jail at about 3 pm, (0930 GMT),

Sobhraj, 41, combined deceit and drugs to rob and kill tourists, according to Indian authorities, Indian government documents presented in court said Sobhraj, who was born in Vietnam, has broken ‘Out of jail in four countries,

Among the countries wanting to prosecute him are Thailand, Greece and Singapore,

Two bestselling books, “Serpentine” and “The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj,” have been published about his past. Sobhraj, interviewed for both books, did not deny the slayings but claimed his victims were criminals,

Inspector Singh said the jailbreak occurred after Sobhraj and his associated drugged the guards at Gate No. 3 of New Delhi’s sprawling Tihar Central Jail. He said he did not know what drug Was used.

Sobhraj was arrested in India in 1976 after bungling a mass drugging of a French tour group of New Delhi. The attempt got him a two year prison term.

He remained imprisoned in New Delhi in a case relating to use of counterfeit travel documents,

A New Delhi magistrate last September ordered Sobhrai’s extradition to Thailand after completion of legal proceedings against him in India. The ruling was on a lawsuit by Thailand, which said Sobhraj was wanted by Bangkok Police for two drugging deaths,

In two other cases brought against him in India, Sobhraj was Convicted of fatally drugging two foreign tourists, but both convictions were over turned by higher ‘courts on appeal,

‘The government has submitted # petition to the Supreme Court challenging Sobhraj’s acquittal on appeal by a high court.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 21, 1986