The State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir is set to file a 737-page chargesheet before a special court in Srinagar, naming JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and other accused in the Sarla Bhat rape and murder case.
Sources said the investigation has revealed the involvement of Yasin Malik, then Chief Commander of the 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 Ghulam Mohammad Taploo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, and Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees are deceased, Yasin Malik is presently in judicial custody in connection with a separate case.
Legal proceedings, including proclamation proceedings, have been initiated against absconding terrorist Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, the man who pulled the trigger. He is believed to have exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The 737-page chargesheet, compiled after an exhaustive investigation, contains oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, and medical evidence analysed by the SIA Kashmir from the past three-and-a-half decades.
The case relates to the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Sarla Bhat, who was abducted outside the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) on April 18, 1990. She was subjected to physical assault and later killed.
Her body was recovered the day after from Omar Colony in the Malabagh area of Srinagar. For decades, the case faded into the background after the onset of the brutal phase of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the case was later reopened, and the fresh investigation has now reached its final stages after the SIA's extensive investigation into the case.
Sources confirm that the chargesheet establishes offences punishable under Sections 364, 341, 302 read with 34, 201 and 120-B of the IPC, 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.
Also read: Search for terrorists continues under Operation Sheruwali
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