J&K SIA reopens Wandhama Massacre case 28 years after killing of 23 Kashmiri Hindus
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After reopening the cases of Sarla Bhat, Tika Lal Taploo and Sarvanand Kaul Premi, J&K Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) has now reopened the Wandhama massacre case, 28 years after terrorists killed 23 Kashmiri Hindus in Ganderbal district.
The SIA has reopened the case to gather fresh evidence and identify the killers responsible for the massacre, as part of its efforts to reinvestigate cases related to the killings of Kashmiri Hindus.
The Wandhama Massacre
The massacre took place on the night of January 25-26, 1998, when a group of terrorists entered Wandhama village in Ganderbal district.
The terrorists took Kashmiri Hindu residents out of their homes, lined them up and opened fire, killing 23 people. Among those killed were two young children, aged two and four.
The massacre was attributed to terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen and was one of several attacks on the Kashmiri Hindu community during the peak of terrorism in the Valley.
The then, Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral joined Wandahama mourners on January 28, accompanied by Governor K.V. Krishna Rao, State Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Union Environment Minister Saifuddin Soz. Mr Gujral said: I am here to express my grief on behalf of the nation.
Other Cases Reopened
The reopening of the Wandhama case comes after the SIA reopened several other cases involving the killings of Kashmiri Hindus.
In August 2025, the agency reopened the case of Sarla Bhat, a Kashmiri Hindu nurse working at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar. She was abducted from her hostel on April 18, 1990, and her body was found the following day with multiple bullet wounds. SIA filed a 737-page chargesheet in connection with the killing of Sarla Bhat on June 29, 2026.
On August 12, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) conducted searches at nine locations across Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the killing of noted Kashmiri Hindu poet and writer Sarvanand Kaul Premi and his son by terrorists.
Premi, 66, and his younger son Verinder, 27, were abducted from their village in Anantnag on April 30, 1990. The next day, terrorists shot them dead, and their bodies were later found hanging from a tree. The brutal killings deeply affected the family, and five days later, the Kaul family left Kashmir and never returned.
The SIA had also reopened the case of BJP leader and RSS member Tika Lal Taploo, who was killed on September 13, 1989, in Srinagar. Taploo, a lawyer, is widely regarded as one of the first prominent Kashmiri Hindu victims of targeted killings during the period of terrorism.
In 2023, the agency reopened the case of retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo, who was killed in Srinagar on November 4, 1989. Ganjoo had sentenced JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat to death in 1968. Bhat was hanged in 1984.
The latest searches are part of the SIA’s effort to reopen old cases, gather fresh evidence, uncover the circumstances of the killings and identify those responsible.