atul sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 29: Already serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, jailed chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, has landed in fresh legal trouble after the State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Monday filed a 737-page chargesheet in the 1990 abduction and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat.
The filing of the chargesheet marks a significant breakthrough in the reopening of one of the Kashmir Valley's most high-profile terror-era cases, nearly 35 years after the crime.
The chargesheet, filed before the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, TADA/POTA and Special Judge designated under the NIA Act in Srinagar, names five JKLF terrorists, including former self-styled chief commander Mohammad Yasin Malik of Maisuma and Abdul Hamid Sheikh of Dandarkhah, Batmaloo. Of the five accused, three—Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Ghulam Mohammad Taploo and Mohammad Yousuf alias Idrees—have died over the past three decades. Malik and his former associate Khursheed Ahmad Chalkoo will now face trial in the case.
The case relates to the abduction and murder of Sarla Bhat, a nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, who was kidnapped on April 18, 1990, allegedly tortured and later shot dead. Her bullet-riddled body was recovered the following day from Umar Colony, Mallabagh, on the outskirts of Srinagar.
The investigation was transferred to the SIA by the Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, on March 18, 2024. Since then, the agency has carried out an extensive probe, reconstructing the sequence of events through protected witnesses, eyewitness testimonies, forensic and ballistic reports, medical evidence, documentary records, electronic material and field investigations.
According to the SIA, the case had remained unresolved for decades due to the prevailing security situation and an atmosphere of fear that prevented witnesses from coming forward. The agency said the fresh investigation enabled it to piece together crucial evidence that had remained inaccessible for years.
Officials said proclamation proceedings have also been initiated against Khursheed Ahmad Chalkoo, who is alleged to have fled to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The chargesheet invokes offences under Sections 364, 341, 302 read with 34, 201 and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), relevant provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), 1987, and Sections 7 and 27 of the Arms Act.
The SIA has alleged that the murder was part of a larger campaign of terror aimed at spreading fear among members of the Kashmiri Pandit community and facilitating their displacement during the early years of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Investigators said that when Sarla Bhat's body was recovered in April 1990, a note purportedly left by the JKLF branded her an "informer" for the security forces. Although a case was registered at the time and investigated by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the perpetrators could not be brought to justice.
Following the reopening of the investigation, the SIA conducted searches at multiple locations in August 2025 and re-examined witnesses, documents and other evidence collected during the original probe.
According to investigators, the murder occurred shortly after Yasin Malik, then a senior JKLF terrorist commander, was injured while allegedly escaping a security cordon in downtown Srinagar. He was reportedly treated clandestinely at SKIMS, prompting security forces to launch searches at the hospital. Investigators suspect this sequence of events may have contributed to the targeting of Sarla Bhat.
Police records further state that Malik was arrested in August 1990 from the residence of businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali in the Baghat-Barzulla area of Srinagar, where arms and ammunition were also allegedly recovered.
The latest chargesheet adds to Malik's growing legal troubles. He is currently serving a life sentence awarded by a Delhi court in 2022 after pleading guilty in a terror-funding case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other provisions of law. |