SRINAGAR, Jan 29: Two policemen were arrested and two others suspended in occupied Kashmir on Monday over the death of a man falsely identified as a Pakistani militant and killed by security forces, officials said.

Two senior police officers were removed from their duties while two junior officers were arrested after a preliminary investigation, said Gopal Sharma, the police chief of Jammu-Kashmir state.

Abdur Rahman Padder, a 35-year-old carpenter, disappeared in Srinagar on Dec 8 and police registered a missing person report on Jan 23, a police statement said.

Padder was shot and killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Ganderbal, a small town 20 kilometres northeast of Srinagar, the night he disappeared.

At the time, police said he was a member of the Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and identified him as Abu Hafiz of Pakistan. They also claimed recovery of an assault rifle and a grenade from him.

Police separately continued to investigate Padder’s disappearance and that led to the discovery of the security forces’ error.

“Padder was killed in a fake gunbattle. We have approached authorities to exhume his body for further investigation,” said a police official.—Agencies