SIA Raids Target Ex-JKLF Members in 35-Year-Old Kashmiri Nurse Murder Case
SIA raids uncover clues in 1990 murder
The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) launched a major operation on Tuesday, raiding eight locations in Srinagar to investigate the brutal 1990 murder of Sarla Bhat, a 35-year-old Kashmiri Pandit nurse. The searches targeted residences of former members of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), including the home of jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik in Maisuma and former leader Peer Noorul Haq Shah, alias “Air Marshal,” as part of a renewed probe into a case that shocked Kashmir during the height of militancy.
Sarla Bhat, employed at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, was abducted from the institute’s Habba Khatoon Hostel on April 18, 1990. Her bullet-riddled body was found the next morning in Umar Colony, Mallabagh, with a note falsely labeling her a “police informant.” Reports indicate she was gang-raped, tortured, and mutilated over several days, a crime tied to the JKLF’s campaign to force Kashmiri Pandits out of the Valley. Her killing was part of a broader wave of targeted violence that triggered the mass exodus of the Hindu minority in the early 1990s.
The SIA, established in 2021 to expedite terror-related investigations, recovered “incriminating evidence” during the raids, which officials believe will help unravel the conspiracy behind Bhat’s murder. The case, originally filed under FIR No. 56/1990 at Nigeen Police Station, had stalled due to the era’s climate of fear and limited investigative resources. Transferred to the SIA last year, the probe reflects Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s push to revisit unresolved cases from the 1990s.
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Other raided locations included the homes of Javaid Ahmad Mir, Reyaz Kabir Sheikh, Bashir Ahmad Gojri, Feroz Ahmad Khan, Kaiser Ahmad Tiploo, and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo, all linked to the JKLF. The agency aims to identify perpetrators and deliver justice for Bhat’s family.
BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya, in a post on X, called the murder a “chilling reminder” of the ethnic cleansing campaign against Kashmiri Pandits, emphasizing the need for accountability. Social activist Rajinder Premi, whose father, a Kashmiri Pandit poet, was also killed by terrorists, expressed hope that the reopened case would bring long-delayed justice.
The raids signal a broader effort to address unresolved atrocities from the 1990s, with the SIA leveraging modern forensics to pursue leads. As the investigation progresses, Kashmiri Pandit communities and human rights groups are closely watching, hoping for closure in one of Kashmir’s darkest chapters.
