SRINAGAR, April 19: Authorities in occupied Kashmir have charged nine members of the security forces with murdering a street vendor and trying to pass him off as a Pakistani militant, officials said on Thursday.

“The accused were charged with abduction, murder and destruction of evidence,” a police official said of the charges, the latest in flurry of cases against Indian security forces in the revolt-hit state.

The vendor, Ghulam Nabi Wani, was detained by police in Srinagar in March last year, driven to Baramulla district and killed in a faked shoot-out.

He was later falsely presented as a “Pakistani militant,” although DNA tests confirmed his real identity.

The charges, announced late on Wednesday, are the latest to be levelled against security forces.—AFP