HYDERABAD: After a whole day of drama, accusations and politics over her disappearance, Chandramukhi Muvvala, who is set to become the first transwoman to contest Assembly elections, was located on Wednesday. The Goshamahal candidate of Bahujan Left Front was picked up by police from a transgender settlement in Secunderabad.
Chandramukhi was last spotted in the early hours of Tuesday at her residence in Jawaharnagar following which she ‘disappeared’ and her mobile phone was switched off. Her mother Ananthamma filed a missing complaint following which a special task force set out on search. They picked her and 10 other transgender persons from the Secunderabad settlement.
Learning about her return, a group of three advocates reached the police station. Later, she was dropped at her residence by a police team. Earlier in the day, based on habeas corpus plea filed by Ananthamma, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court directed the Telangana police to produce Chandramukhi before it on Thursday morning.
The MLA candidate did not respond to repeated questionsabout her disappearance. “I will explain everything that happened to me in the court Thursday morning,” she told Express. However, some police officials felt this could be a publicity stunt. “We will file a police complaint against her if it was a political gimmick,” said one police officer.
Earlier in the day, Chandramukhi’s mother Ananthamma (55) made an appeal to the ‘kidnappers’ to release her daughter. She promised that her daughter would withdraw from elections if she is freed. “It has been 24 hours and there is still no information about her. I request the kidnappers to leave her alone. We shall leave this place,” Ananthamma had said. BLF State Convenor Thammineni Veerabhadram also met DGP M Mahender Reddy on Wednesday morning.
Later, Veerabhadram claimed he was informed that Chandramukhi could have gone to meet a pontiff in Ananthapur. Subsequently, BLF approached the Election Commission with a complaint stating that their candidate had been kidnapped.
Speculations were rife that she could have been kidnapped by her opponents, and fingers were pointed at the controversial BJP candidate of Goshamahal, T Raja Singh. Vyjayanthi Vasanta Mogli, a transgender rights activist, claimed that Chandramukhi has been winning hearts of people in the constituency and was hence becoming a threat to her opponents.