Sarla Bhat Murder Case: 737-Page Chargesheet Names Yasin Malik As Key Conspirator in 1990 Abduction, Torture & Killing of Kashmiri Pandit Nurse

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough in the murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a comprehensive 737-page chargesheet naming former JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and four others for their role in the abduction, torture and killing of the staff nurse in 1990. 

The 737-page chargesheet has been filed before the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act in Srinagar, and it is based on fresh evidence, eyewitness testimonies and forensic findings gathered after the case was reopened last year.

Yasin Malik Among Five Accused Named

The investigation has named Mohammad Yasin Malik, then chief commander of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), along with Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo as accused in the conspiracy.

According to the SIA, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo have since died. 

Malik is currently lodged in judicial custody in another case, while proclamation proceedings have been initiated against absconding accused Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, who is believed to have fled to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Sarla Bhat Abducted, Tortured and Killed in 1990

According to the SIA, Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, was abducted near the hospital on April 18, 1990. Investigators said that she was tortured before being shot dead with an automatic rifle and her body was later dumped in Omer Colony, Malbagh.

She was among the last Kashmiri Pandit women to continue working in the Valley during the peak of militancy in 1990.

Case Reopened With Fresh Evidence

The SIA reopened the case in August last year and reconstructed the investigation using fresh evidence.

Officials traced elderly eyewitnesses, recorded statements of journalists who had reported on the violence in the early 1990s and conducted fresh forensic examinations. 

Based on the new material collected, investigators identified the alleged role of five JKLF operatives in the planning and execution of the crime.

According to investigators, legal proceedings will continue against the surviving accused, while the fresh probe is aimed at ensuring accountability in one of the Valley's most high-profile killings linked to the militancy of the early 1990s.

The development comes decades after the killing, which occurred during a period marked by widespread violence and the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community from the Valley.

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