TRS leader abducted by suspected Maoists in Telangana

A TRS leader has been "taken away" by suspected Maoists from his house in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district to the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, police said Tuesday. N Srinivas Rao, a local Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader aged around 45, was abducted and "taken away" from Kothur village around midnight Monday, a police official said.

"We are following it up. We want him to come back immediately," District Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt told PTI. Rao's wife, Durga, told news channels that around 10-15 unidentified people, some of them carrying weapons and sticks, dragged her husband out of their house even as she and her son pleaded them not to. She said they beat up her husband, son and also her.

"When we tried to stop them, they also pointed a gun at me. We were not allowed to step out of our house," she alleged. Nearly 200 villagers and Rao's family members have left for Chhattisgarh to locate him, police said, adding they have not received any complaint so far in this connection.

Rao's wife requested the abductors to release her husband.