1998 massacre of 23 Kashmiri Pandits to be probed again

The Jammu & Kashmir ’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) has reopened the Wandhama massacre case, 28 years after the terrorists gunned down 23 Kashmiri Hindus in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal, officials familiar with the matter said.

The move is part of a wider effort to pursue long-pending cases of targeted killings during the peak of militancy in the valley. Several high-profile cases have been reopened since the abrogation of Article 370.

“The SIA has began investigation into the Sarwananad Premi Koul, Tika Lal Taploo, and 1998 Wandhama massacre, in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were killed, as part of a wider push to pursue long-pending cases of targeted killings during the peak of militancy in the valley,” said a senior official privy to the details.

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In January 1998, 23 Kashmiri Pandits from four families were killed by unidentified gunmen in Wandhama village. A 14-year-old was the lone survivor.

SIA has also reopened the 1990 killing of Kashmiri Pandit writer and social worker Sarwanand Koul Premi and his 24-year-old son, Virender Koul.

On August 12, the agency conducted raids at multiple locations across Jammu & Kashmir in connection with the case.

In another major case, SIA has filed a charge sheet on June 29 in the 1990 rape and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, naming JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo as the alleged masterminds.

Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha had announced on June 29, 2025, that cases involving people killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists during militancy would be reopened where families had not received justice. On July 1, he directed officials to reopen such cases, register FIRs and ensure jobs for next of kin on priority.

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SIA has also sought public help in the 1989 killing of judge Neel Kant Ganjoo and arrested two absconding terrorists accused in the 1990 killing of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq.

Officials said several other old cases in which perpetrators remain at large are being investigated.

HT reached out to National Conference and the Kashmiri Pandit organisations but did not get a response till the time of print.