SRINAGAR, April 13: Indian authorities in Kashmir on Thursday charged ten security personnel and a civilian with the murder of a cleric. “The accused were charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, abduction with the intent to murder, murder and destruction of evidence,” a police officer told reporters in Srinagar.

The cleric, Shaukat Ahmed, disappeared in Srinagar last October.

His relatives allege that police arrested and later killed him during a staged gunbattle and pretended he was a militant.

The army and police had claimed to have killed a Pakistani militant last October, but DNA tests conducted on Ahmed's body matched with his relatives. Security forces are awarded cash and promotions for killing militants.—AFP