Overview
- The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency has formally reopened the Wandhama case from January 25, 1998, in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were killed, and has carried out searches across the Kashmir Valley in late August 2026.
- The reopened Wandhama probe is being pursued alongside other long‑pending cases such as the 1989 killings of Tika Lal Taploo and Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo and the 1990 Premi and Sarla Bhat murders.
- SIA investigators say they have identified alleged gunmen, over‑ground workers and facilitators and are pursuing those believed to be alive or in hiding, while some accused have died over the years.
- The agency has combined modern digital forensics, coordinated raids and public appeals with earlier case files; it filed a 737‑page chargesheet in June 2026 naming jailed JKLF leader Yasin Malik in the Sarla Bhat case.
- Officials warn prosecutions face hurdles because original files are missing in some cases, witnesses and physical evidence have degraded, and the passage of decades will complicate efforts to secure convictions.