The State Investigation Agency (SIA), Kashmir has named banned JKLF chief Yasin Malik and four others in a 737-page chargesheet in connection with the abduction, torture, and killing of Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar. Bhat was killed by JKLF terrorists on April 18, 1990, the agency said.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the case was transferred to SIA on 18th March 2024. The chargesheet brings together a formidable body of oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, medical and electronic evidence accumulated over decades, the statement reads.
It reads that the case relates to one of the most barbaric terrorist crimes committed during the early phase of terrorism in Kashmir. "Saria Bhat was abducted from SKIMS on 18 April 1990, subjected to brutal torture and physical assault, and thereafter killed with an automatic rifle fire at Omer Colony, Srinagar," it reads.
For decades, the case remained unresolved owing to the extraordinary circumstances prevailing during the peak years of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. The atmosphere of fear, intimidation and terror created by terrorist organisations had severely impacted the ability of witnesses to come forward and disclose material facts, it reads.
In March 2024, SIA Kashmir took over the case and despite the lapse of more than three and a half decades, investigators reconstructed the sequence of events through protected witness testimonies, independent eyewitness accounts, forensic and ballistic analysis, medical evidence, documentary records, electronic evidence and extensive field investigations.
It reads the investigation established that the killing of Sarla Bhat was not an isolated act of violence but part of a larger terrorist conspiracy orchestrated under the command and control of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
"The investigation has revealed the involvement of Mohammad Yaseen Malik, then Chief Commander of JKLF, along with Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Gulam Mohammad Taploo in planning and executing the abduction and brutal killing".
The statement read that while Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Gulam Mohammad Taploo are deceased, Mohammad Yaseen Malik is presently in judicial custody in another case. "Legal proceedings, including proclamation proceedings, have been initiated against absconding terrorist Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo (man who pulled the trigger), who is believed to have exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir".
It reads the chargesheet establishes offences punishable under Sections 364, 341, 302 read with 34, 201 and 120-B RPC, Sections 3(2), 3(3), 4 and 6 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA), and Sections 7 and 27 of the Indian Arms Act, 1959.
It added the investigation has further established that the allegation portraying Sarla Bhat as an "informer" was entirely false and constituted a fabricated pretext employed by terrorists to justify a premeditated assassination.
"Evidence collected during investigation demonstrates that the murder was part of JKLF's systematic campaign of targeted terrorist violence intended to spread fear among innocent civilians, particularly members of the Kashmiri Pandit community, create conditions for their forced displacement from the Kashmir Valley and advance the secessionist agenda of the terrorist organisation," it reads.
