The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency has reopened the 1998 Vandhama massacre investigation, alongside decades-old murder cases involving Kashmiri Hindu leaders. Authorities are examining the roles of terrorists and overground workers in attacks that claimed the lives of 23 civilians, including women and children, near Ganderbal.
Decades after some of the most violent episodes of militancy in the Kashmir Valley, investigators are re-examining the physical and political scars left behind. The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency has launched renewed probes into several historical high-profile murder and massacre cases targeting Kashmiri Hindus, according to regional reporting.
The 1998 Vandhama Massacre Investigation
The renewed scrutiny centers heavily on the events of January 25, 1998. Late on that night, armed militants entered the village of Vandhama in the Ganderbal district near Srinagar, targeting the homes of local Kashmiri Hindu families. Four children and nine women were among the 23 people killed in the assault.
The attack occurred on the eve of Republic Day, coinciding with the Islamic holy night of Shab-e-Qadr. According to agency sources cited by news outlets, the attackers gathered family members together before opening fire. For a long period following the atrocity, no accused individuals were brought to justice. Investigators are now conducting raids across multiple locations in the Kashmir Valley to identify the active militants and overground workers involved in orchestrating the massacre.
Reopening Historic Political and Judicial Murders
Beyond the Vandhama killings, the investigative agency has widened its scope to review other foundational acts of violence from the early days of the insurgency. These include the 1989 assassinations of prominent political figure Tika Lal Taploo and former High Court judge Neelkanth Ganju.
Taploo, who served as a vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party and worked as an advocate, was shot dead outside his Srinagar home on September 13, 1989. His killing marked one of the earliest targeted assassinations of a major Kashmiri Hindu political figure in the valley, with responsibility attributed to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front militants. Senior political figures, including Lal Krishna Advani and Kedarnath Sahni, attended his funeral procession, which itself faced stone-pelting by militants.
Months later, on November 4, 1989, Justice Neelkanth Ganju was shot and killed in the Hari Singh Street area of Srinagar. Ganju had previously sentenced JKLF militant Maqbool Bhat to death—a sentence carried out at Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984. Sourced reports note that Ganju had been on a militant hit list, and after the shooting, his body remained on the street for hours as threats deterred local residents from approaching.
Current Investigative Focus and Valley-Wide Raids
The state agency’s renewed push also encompasses other historical files, including the cases of Sarla Bhat and Sarwanand Kaul. Investigators are utilizing intelligence from recent valley-wide raids to piece together the specific networks, logistics, and personnel that sustained the violence decades ago.
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