Srinagar, April 18 (IANS) The police Wednesday filed a third chargesheet against nine security force officials in the infamous case of killing a civilian in a staged gun battle in Dodwan village of north Kashmir's Baramulla district last year.

Five police officers and four army personnel, accused of kidnapping and subsequently murdering Ghulam Nabi Wani, were framed, Anand Jain, chief investigating officer told IANS here.

"Today we presented the challan against the former senior superintendent of police H.R. Parihar, deputy superintendent Bahadur Ram, assistant sub-inspector Farooq Ahmad Gudoo, selection grade constable Farooq Ahmad Paddar and constable Bansi Lal of the state police," Jain said.

"We have also charged Colonel Vikram Singh, Adjutant Major Narayan Yadav and two soldiers of the 13 Rashtriya Rifles," he added.

The accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, wrongful confinement, kidnapping and pre-meditated murder, Jain said.

All the accused, except those of the Rashtriya Rifles, were present in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Sopore in north Kashmir when the chargesheet was presented.

Magistrate Abdul Rashid deferred the proceedings till May 5 to give time to the army to decide whether it wants the accused army personnel to be tried in the civil court or to court martial them.

The magistrate also ordered that summons be issued to the accused army personnel through the investigating officer.

Court has also directed Commander 3 RR to produce the accused in the court on the next day of hearing. The army has said they would co-operate fully with the civil authorities in bringing the guilty to book.

The accused were brought to the CJM's court in Sopore town amid tight security from central jail (Srinagar) where they are presently lodged.

They had allegedly picked up Ghulam Nabi Wani, a vendor, from the Residency Road area of Srinagar on March 2, 2006. He was later killed in a staged gun battle in Dodwan village of north Kashmir's Baramulla district and passed off as a foreign terrorist on March 14, 2006.

DNA tests, after Wani's body was exhumed, matched with the samples from his relatives giving the lie to the theory that he was a mercenary and proving that he was killed in a staged encounter.

Two chargesheets in the murder of Abdul Rehman Paddar, the south Kashmir carpenter and Molvi Showkat Kataria, a priest, have already been presented in the court of law.