Yasin Malik, the jailed chief of the banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has rejected the allegations that he was involved in the abduction and killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat in 1990. He claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the case.In an affidavit filed recently before a Srinagar court, Malik, however, said he had decided not to contest the trial proceedings in the case, citing his “personal circumstances”, and sought “capital punishment”.In June, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) filed the chargesheet in connection with the Sarla Bhat case. The agency named Malik as the key accused in the killing of Bhat in April 1990.The jailed JKLF chief claimed before the chargesheet was filed, three officers visited him in Tihar Jail in New Delhi, and referred to “an alleged handwritten JKLF note recovered from the crime scene that purportedly claimed responsibility for the murder and mentioned the names of Javaid Mir, Sheikh Abdul Hamid and Mohammad Yasin Malik”.Malik, rejecting the allegations, questioned “why investigators had not named him or the others mentioned in the alleged note when the case was originally probed”.“On what legal or factual basis has this theory suddenly emerged after several decades?” he said. Malik further argued that if such a note had existed, it could not have escaped the attention of investigators at the time.During questioning by the SIA in June, Malik said he was asked whether “JKLF suspected Bhat of passing information to security forces and whether he had ordered her killing following the raid at Narwara, Downtown Srinagar, on April 8, 1990”.“I categorically stated that the allegation is entirely false. Neither Ms Sarla Bhat was working for the security forces in any covert capacity, nor was she in any manner responsible for the raid conducted at Narwara,” he said, adding that the “present theory has been advanced solely to implicate me in a case in which my name did not figure for more than 36 years”.Malik claimed that he first came to know about the murder of Bhat on February 21, 1991, while he was in judicial custody. He said when late Chandra Shekhar became the Prime Minister, he was transferred from Tihar Jail to a farmhouse at Mehrauli, New Delhi, where he was visited by senior officials. He said a senior officer of the Intelligence Bureau with the code name “Dr Mathur” told him agencies suspected Khursheed Chalkoo (believed to be in Pakistan) of being involved in Bhat’s murder.“The present proceedings have arisen out of political circumstances and decisions. I believe that I have been falsely implicated in the present case. My decision shall not be treated as an admission of any prosecution fact, guilt or acceptance of the allegations made against me. I request for capital punishment,” he said.