Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 12 (ANI): The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Tuesday carried out searches at eight locations in Srinagar in connection with the 1990 abduction and killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat.

The searches, which were still underway, are linked to FIR No 56/1990 registered at Police Station Nigeen, Srinagar, now being investigated by SIA Kashmir.

According to an SIA press release, the case pertains to the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit, Sarla Bhat, a nurse at SKIMS Soura, who was brutally killed by terrorists 36 years ago. These strategic searches, which were conducted at 8 locations throughout District Srinagar, have resulted in the recovery of some incriminating evidence, which will help in unearthing the whole terrorist conspiracy with the ultimate aim of delivering justice to the victim and her family.

Following the raids, BJP leader Amit Malviya condemned the 1990 killing of Sarla Bhat, describing it as part of the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits.

He claimed that Bhatt was allegedly abducted from her workplace in April 1990 during the peak of militancy in Kashmir and was allegedly 'tortured, gang-raped, mutilated and killed', with her 'body cut into pieces' and dumped to 'instil terror'.

https://x.com/amitmalviya/status/1955122448057160132

In a post on X, the BJP leader wrote, 'Sarla Bhatt, a young Kashmiri Pandit nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar, was brutally murdered in April 1990 during the peak of militancy in Kashmir. Armed militants abducted her from her workplace, took her to an unknown location, and subjected her to horrific torture. She was gang-raped, mutilated, and killed -- her body cut into pieces and dumped to instil terror.'

'Her murder was not just a heinous crime but part of the targeted campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kashmiri Pandits, aimed at driving the Hindu minority out of the Valley. Sarla Bhatt's killing remains one of the most chilling reminders of the atrocities that triggered the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990,' Malviya added.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board and BJP leader Darakhshan Andrabi welcomed the reopening of the case.

She told ANI, 'The families who lost their children through militancy in the last 35 years were given justice by the LG administration after 35 years, and today a wave of justice is going on through the administration. If the government has reopened the file, it is right... Wherever there has been injustice, it is important to serve justice...' (ANI)