File photo of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik.
| Photo Credit: ANI
After 36 years, the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s special cell, State Investigation Agency (SIA), on Monday (June 29, 2026) named Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik among five others in the chargesheet filed in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Sarla Bhat, a nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences killed in 1990.
According to the SIA, the investigation “conclusively established that the killing of Bhat was not an isolated act of violence but part of a larger terrorist conspiracy orchestrated under the command and control of the JKLF”.
The investigation, the SIA said, revealed the involvement of Malik, then JKLF chief commander; Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo; Abdul Hamid Sheikh; Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo “in planning and executing the abduction and brutal killing”.
Torture, physical assault
The SIA said Bhat was “subjected to brutal torture and physical assault, and thereafter horrendously killed through automatic rifle fire at Omer Colony, Malbagh, Srinagar”.
Three among the five accused are dead, including Sheikh, Sofi and Taploo. Malik, who was sentenced to two counts of life imprisonment and five 10-year prison sentences in 2022, is lodged in Tihar jail and also faces trial in two other major cases, including kidnapping of the then Union Home Minister’s daughter in 1989 and an attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1990.
The SIA said legal proceedings, including proclamation proceedings, have been initiated against absconding terrorist Chalkoo, “who pulled the trigger” and is believed to have exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
The chargesheet has established offences punishable under Sections 364, 341, 302 read with 34, 201 and 120B of the Ranbir Penal Code, 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.
Landmark development: police
The J&K Police termed the 737-page chargesheet as “a landmark development and a defining moment in J&K’s fight against terrorism”. “The voluminous chargesheet, painstakingly compiled after an exhaustive investigation, brings together a formidable body of oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, medical and electronic evidence accumulated over decades and meticulously analysed by the SIA, Kashmir,” said the police.
The police said the filing of the chargesheet after 36 years marks a historic milestone in the pursuit of justice for victims of terrorism and stands as one of the most significant breakthroughs in the investigation of legacy terror crimes in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The chargesheet sends a powerful and unequivocal message that time can never become a shield for terrorism. No matter how many years have elapsed, those responsible for terrorist atrocities will continue to remain answerable before the law,” said the police.
Bhat, who was killed in the attack on April 18, 1990, was among the first of Kashmiri Pandits killed when militancy broke out in 1989.
“The Sarla Bhat case became one such symbol of the dark chapter of terrorism that engulfed the Kashmir Valley. Yet, neither the memory of the victim nor the quest for justice faded with time,” said the police.
“This landmark investigation stands as a testament to the unwavering commitment of SIA Kashmir and the Government of India to uncover the truth behind even the oldest unresolved terrorist crimes and ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” it added.
Published – June 29, 2026 05:50 pm IST
