Nihita fears kidnap, torture

By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu

July 16: Catapulted into headlines worldwide after the news of her engagement to criminal mastermind Charles Sobhraj became public, Nepali girl Nihita Biswas is now facing the flipside of her controversial romance.

The 20-year-old is receiving threats that she will be kidnapped and tortured if she doesn’t call off her engagement to the 64-year-old and continues to visit him in Kathmandu’s Central Jail, where Sobhraj is serving a 20-year jail term for the murder of an American tourist.

Nihita’s mother Shakuntala Thapa, who is also defending Sobhraj in Nepal’s Supreme Court, has begun meeting the police and prison authorities to apprise them of the threats to her daughter. The family thinks the threats could be from some of the prisoners, who either have some enmity with Sobhraj or are trying to extort money from him.

Nihita received the first threat five days ago, when someone sent a message to her on her mobile phone. "There could be other ways to get famous," the enigmatic message from an unfamiliar number said. "You are not famous. In fact, you are infamous. You know the meaning of infamous?"

The next day, the second message from the same number arrived. "I don’t know you," it said. "I am spending Re1 that is not given by criminals. Don’t try to fool me. You are going to be caught badly. So sad to say but be ready to face the storm."

The third warning was more dire. A visitor was leaving the prison after having met Sobhraj when he was accosted by a young man and a woman in her 30s, people he had earlier seen visiting a prisoner in the same jail.

"We know all about Sobhraj’s illegal deeds," the two told the visitor. "Unless he pays us, we will kidnap the girl and torture her. So tell him to pay up." The two claimed they were from the Young Communist League, the dreaded strong arm of the Maoists. But when Nihita’s mother contacted the YCL, they denied having any hand in the matter.

The fourth incident occurred last week, when Nihita was going to the prison to meet Sobhraj.

—IANS