The recovery of the Holy Relic was even more astonishing than its theft. The central government had dispatched a team from the Punjab Fingerprint Bureau to examine the crime scene. However, DIG Ganderbal was reluctant to take them to the site.
After delaying them for three days, he finally instructed police officer Wali Shah to accompany them to Hazratbal. Just as the team entered the shrine, the Sadr-e-Riyasat of the State, Karan Singh, also arrived. Naturally, the priority of the police officers shifted from investigating the Holy Relic or assisting the fingerprint experts to welcoming Karan Singh.
Meanwhile, the custodian of the shrine, Ghulam Hassan, led the Fingerprint Bureau team to the private chamber where a wooden casket was kept. When the casket was opened, it contained a glass case. Upon careful inspection, the experts discovered that the sacred relic was inside. Before the police officers could return after seeing off Karan Singh, Ghulam Hassan and the fingerprint team had already announced the relic’s recovery.
The head of the Intelligence Bureau, Bhola Nath Malik, who was in Srinagar at the time, was displeased that the relic had been recovered in his absence. However, he quickly called Prime Minister Nehru and informed him that the sacred relic had been found in the very place from which it had been stolen.
Former Intelligence Bureau Director R.K. Kapoor, who was then a junior officer stationed in Kashmir but was in Jammu on 4 January, later recounted dramatic events from that day. According to him, his Srinagar residence was broken into, and the recovered Holy Relic was placed in his drawing room. Prominent religious scholars and clerics from across the valley were summoned.
One by one, they were shown the relic and then asked to testify before a magistrate in an adjoining room, affirming its authenticity under oath.
However, since the government did not allow The Action Committee to verify the relic, public anger remained unabated. This tension escalated, culminating in a bloody crackdown on 25 January when the Punjab Armed Police opened fire on unarmed protestors in Srinagar, killing several and injuring dozens.
The Action Committee claimed that at least two dozen people were martyred. The ruthless use of force against innocent civilians further fueled public outrage and unrest.
By now, Prime Minister Nehru was furious with the Home Ministry. He dispatched senior Congress leader Lal Bahadur Shastri to Srinagar on a special mission. Shastri’s concern was simple: what would happen if the Action Committee leaders refused to authenticate the relic?
When he posed this question to Syed Mir Qasim, the latter explained that the Holy Relic was the reason the Hazratbal shrine held central religious significance in Kashmir. If the Action Committee rejected its authenticity, that centrality would be lost. Hazratbal had long been a focal point for movements — first against the Dogra regime and later for the plebiscite demand.
Shastri then spoke to Molvi Mohammad Saeed Masoodi, warning him that if the Action Committee refused to recognize the relic, the government would have no choice but to transfer it to Ajmer Sharif. Before departing for Delhi, he told Masoodi at Srinagar airport:
“What was lost has now been found. If people still refuse to accept it, we will invite the custodians of Ajmer Sharif and, with full devotion, transfer it there.”
Upon reaching Delhi, Shastri went straight to the Prime Minister’s residence. Nehru was already livid with the Home Ministry, particularly Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda and his associates, for objecting to showing the relic to the Action Committee.
As Shastri narrated the events of the past three days, Nehru’s frustration reached its peak. At that moment, he made a final decision — to drop all charges against Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in the so-called Kashmir Conspiracy Case. Turning to his officials, he declared firmly:
“If no charges could be proven in four years, and nothing has surfaced in six, then clearly, there is nothing to prove.”
Sham Investigation and Political Intrigue
The police named three individuals — Abdul Rahim Bande, Abdul Rashid, and Qadir Bhatt — as the accused. However, it was later revealed that Bhatt did not even exist; he was a fictitious character. The entire trial of the Holy Relic theft turned into a farcical spectacle.
The way the case was handled only exposed the government's bad faith, leading to suspicions that either the real culprit was being protected or the government itself was involved and wanted to cover up the truth.
The investigation was overseen by Intelligence Bureau chief B.N. Malik, even though the state had a functioning government with a Prime Minister. The central government had effectively taken control of law and order. To that end, officers like B.N. Malik, Vishwanathan, P.K. Dave, and Sushital Banerjee were sent to Kashmir and granted magisterial powers. Under B.N. Malik’s strict instructions, the legal proceedings were repeatedly delayed.
This situation persisted for eight years until, on December 20, 1972, Judge G.M. Mir closed the case and archived the files.
Syeed Mir Qasim, who became Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister on December 12, 1971, later recalled that when his predecessor, Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, had been appointed Prime Minister, he met B.N. Malik and expressed his concerns about the names put forward as the accused. He insisted that the real culprits should be exposed. Malik responded cryptically:
"Who the real culprit was, where he came from, and why he stole the sacred relic — this secret will remain buried in my heart and will go with me to my grave. I will not reveal it under any circumstances."
Eight months after the relic's disappearance, a police officer died under mysterious circumstances in Srinagar. On August 20, 1964, Deputy Superintendent of Police Ghulam Hassan Kawosa was found dead in his home.
Officially, his death was declared a suicide, but few believed this claim. Rumours swirled that he possessed critical information that led to either his murder or forced suicide. Kawosa was known to be close to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad.
His neighbor, Dr Girdhari Lal, who was called by Kawosa’s panicked wife to examine the body, later stated that he had seen two individuals leaving Kawosa’s house and heading toward the police lines.
Ghulam Nabi Gohar, who later became a judge, analyzed the case and asserted that the suicide was staged. He believed that Kawosa had been strangled in another room, and his body was then hung in the attic to make it appear as a suicide.
Amid this turmoil, an attempt was also made to incite ethnic violence between Kashmiris and Gujjars. Sarbuland Khan, a feudal lord from Uri, had amassed immense power during Bakshi's rule and used it ruthlessly against the poor, particularly the Gujjars.
With DIG Ganderbali’s assistance, Khan secretly brought dozens of Gujjars from Uri over two days and kept them in his residence in Saraibala, Srinagar. On December 30, a rumor was deliberately spread that two Gujjars had been caught near Kangan while allegedly trying to smuggle the sacred relic to Pakistan.
Amid these developments, on April 8, 1964, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was released from prison. Three days earlier, on April 5, Jammu and Kashmir’s Prime Minister G.M. Sadiq had announced the dismissal of the Kashmir Conspiracy Case. A day before that, on April 4, Nehru had arrived in Srinagar — his last visit to Kashmir.
During Nehru’s visit, protests erupted. In Lal Chowk, demonstrators tore down welcome banners and arches set up in his honor. At the Municipal Park, while Nehru was addressing a gathering, protestors dismantled the canopy over the stage and damaged microphones and loudspeakers.
The following day, Nehru convened an emergency meeting of his cabinet in Delhi. He reportedly said:
"If, after fifteen years of integration, Kashmir remains so unstable that people rise against the government over an issue like the Holy Relic, then we need to rethink our approach to Kashmir."
It became evident that Sheikh Abdullah still held significant influence over the Kashmiri people and that any political resolution in the Valley was impossible without his involvement. Based on this realization, his release was deemed necessary.
B.N. Malik later wrote that some cabinet members, including Home Minister Nanda and Law Minister A.K. Sen, opposed the decision. According to Abdullah, the Holy Relic movement had convinced Nehru that all his policies on Kashmir had been misguided, and he now wanted to ease his conscience — especially after suffering a stroke on January 6, 1964.
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