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Srinagar : In a landmark breakthrough in one of Jammu and Kashmir’s oldest terror cases, the State Investigation Agency (SIA), Kashmir, under the leadership of Director SIA J&K Sh. Nitish Kumar (IPS) and SSP SIA Kashmir Tahir Ashraf Bhatti, has filed a 737-page comprehensive chargesheet in the 1990 abduction, torture and killing of Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar.
The chargesheet was filed before the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge (TADA/POTA), designated under the NIA Act, Srinagar, nearly 35 years after the crime. According to the official SIA press release, the case was transferred to the agency in March 2024, following which a comprehensive scientific investigation was undertaken.
The investigation, according to the SIA, relied on protected witness testimonies, independent eyewitness accounts, forensic and ballistic analysis, medical evidence, documentary records, electronic evidence and extensive field investigations to reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding the April 18, 1990 killing.
According to the chargesheet, the SIA has named Mohammad Yaseen Malik, then Chief Commander of JKLF, Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees, and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo as accused in the alleged conspiracy and execution of the abduction and murder of Sarla Bhat. The agency stated that Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo are deceased, Mohammad Yaseen Malik is currently in judicial custody in another case, while proclamation proceedings have been initiated against absconding accused Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, who is believed to have exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The chargesheet invokes provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), and the Indian Arms Act. The SIA further stated that its investigation found the allegation portraying Sarla Bhat as an “informer” to be false and alleged that her killing formed part of a larger terrorist conspiracy aimed at spreading fear and targeting innocent civilians.
The filing of the chargesheet marks a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice in the decades-old case and reflects the SIA’s continued commitment to investigating legacy terror crimes. The allegations contained in the chargesheet will now be examined by the competent court during the course of the trial.
