Srinagar, June 30 -- 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. 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. The SIA, while mentioning the contents of the chargesheet, said that the investigation has conclusively established that the killing 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 has revealed the involvement of Mohammad Yaseen 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. While Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo are deceased, Mohammad Yaseen Malik is presently in judicial custody in another case. Legal proceedings, including proclamation proceedings, have been initiated against absconding terrorist Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo (man who pulled the trigger), who is believed to have exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir," says the chargesheet. The chargesheet establishes offences punishable under Sections 364, 341, 302 read with 34, 201 and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), 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 Arms Act, 1959. "The investigation has further 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. Evidence collected during investigation demonstrates that the murder formed part of JKLF's systematic campaign of targeted terrorist violence intended to spread fear among innocent civilians, particularly members of the Kashmiri Pandit community, create conditions for their forced displacement from the Kashmir Valley and advance the secessionist agenda of the terrorist organisation," the chargesheet added. 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....