SRINAGAR, Feb 3: Two top police officers were arrested in occupied Kashmir on Saturday on murder charges after a carpenter was allegedly falsely identified as an insurgent and shot dead, an official said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Hans Raj Parihar and his deputy Bahadur Ram were held on charges of kidnap and murder involving the alleged ‘fake encounter,’ a police officer told AFP.

The carpenter, Abdul Rahman Padder, was one of at least five civilians reportedly killed in fake gunbattles in the district that police are investigating.

He said he would start a three-day hunger strike the same day to highlight the increase in human rights violations.

Mr Malik accused both India and Pakistan of maintaining a criminal silence over fake encounters in Kashmir. —AFP