Nearly 36 after the abduction, rape, torture and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) in Kashmir filed a 737-page chargesheet before a special court in Srinagar, naming Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Terrorist Mohammad Yasin Malik as the mastermind behind the 1990 abduction.
According to sources, the 737-page chargesheet alleged that it was Yasin Malik who ordered the abduction, torture and killing of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) nurse Sarla Bhat.
In the chargesheet, the SIA stated that the investigation 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. The agency further linked the Sarla Bhat murder to JKLF’s alleged campaign to trigger Kashmiri Pandit exodus back in 1990.
SIA Names Five Accused
The SIA named five accused in the Sarla Bhat murder case after 36 years. The investigation revealed the involvement of Mohammad Yasin Malik, then Chief Commander of JKLF, along with Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo in planning and executing the abduction and brutal killing.
Notably, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo are dead. While, Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo (the attacker) is absconding and has exfiltrated to Pakistan.
Who Was Sarla Bhat?
On the morning of April 18, 1990, Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar was abducted from near her hospital, tortured and horrendously killed through automatic rifle fire at Omer Colony in Malbagh, Srinagar. She was among the last Kashmiri Pandit women, who was still at her post as the Valley descended into one of its darkest chapters.
For decades, the case remained unresolved owing to the extraordinary circumstances prevailing during the peak years of terrorism in Jammu and 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.
36 years later, on June 29, 2026, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir filed a 737-page chargesheet before a special TADA/POTA court in Srinagar, naming Mohammad Yasin Malik, then Chief Commander terrorist of the JKLF, as the man who ordered her killing.