Thirty-six years after the brutal rape and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, the state investigation agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir filed a definitive chargesheet before a special TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities) court in Srinagar on Monday.JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who has been named by the state investigation agency (SIA) as the primary mastermind behind the 1990 abduction and murder of nurse Sarla Bhat. (HT file photo)The agency has named proscribed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik, then the outfit’s “chief commander,” and Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo as the primary masterminds behind the 1990 terror crime.A senior police officer said that the exhaustive investigation has concluded and the 737-page chargesheet was submitted before the court.The SIA’s investigation reveals that the murder was not an isolated act of violence but part of a larger, institutionalised conspiracy orchestrated by the JKLF. The group targeted violence against the minority Kashmiri Pandit community to orchestrate their systematic, forced displacement from the Valley.According to police records, co-conspirator Chalkoo of Uri (Baramulla), who allegedly pulled the trigger, is currently absconding and believed to be staying in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK). Proclamation proceedings have been initiated against him. The three other JKLF militants involved in the execution—identified as Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi (alias Idrees), and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo—are dead.Yasin Malik is currently serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on separate terror-funding convictions.Sarla Bhat, a 27-year-old staff nurse working at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, was abducted from her hostel on April 15, 1990. She was subjected to physical torture and sexual assault in captivity before being shot dead. Her body was dumped in Malbagh, Srinagar, along with a JKLF note falsely branding her a “mukhbir (informer).”For over three decades, the case languished unresolved due to intimidation, violence, and enforced silence during the peak of militancy. The momentum shifted on March 18, 2024, when J&K director general of police Nalin Prabhat transferred the case to the SIA.As part of the renewed investigation, the SIA launched coordinated raids at eight locations across Srinagar district last year, targeting properties and residences linked to former JKLF operatives. A police spokesperson said at the time that the searches under FIR No. 56/1990, registered at Nigeen police station, yielded critical incriminating forensic and documentary evidence, allowing investigators to reconstruct the three decade-old conspiracy.The legal breakthrough aligns with the ongoing administrative push following the abrogation of Article 370 to reopen cold cases involving targeted killings.A similar push is underway for the 1989 assassination of retired judge Neel Kant Ganjoo, who was shot dead in a Srinagar market.Case timelineApril 15, 1990: SKIMS staff nurse Sarla Bhat is abducted from her hostel in Srinagar by JKLF militants.April 19, 1990: Bhat’s bullet-ridden, tortured body is found dumped in Malbagh, Srinagar, with a note from the JKLF claiming responsibility. FIR No. 56/1990 is registered at Nigeen police station; the case subsequently goes cold due to rampant militancy.March 18, 2024: J&K DGP Nalin Prabhat orders the case to be formally transferred to the state investigation agency (SIA) for a fresh, scientific probe.August 2025: SIA conducts raids across eight locations in Srinagar, recovering fresh incriminating forensic and electronic data.June 2026: SIA completes probe and prepares to submit 737-page chargesheet naming Yasin Malik and Khurshid Chalkoo in TADA court.