Charla (Kothagudem): TRS leader Srinivas Rao, 45, was abducted by suspected Maoists from his house in Kothuru, Bhadradri-Kothagu-dem district early on Tuesday.
It is suspected that the kidnapping was carried out in light of the row over podu cultivation. Mr Rao had been cultivating crops on almost 100 acres of land every year. For this, he had obtained tribal lands on lease.
Mr Rao assured them he would develop the land and till it for five years. The tribals agreed. Rao over the past four years raised various crops including cotton and paddy.
Sources said that last year, Maoists had asked Mr Rao to hand the land back to the tribals but he did not do so. The abduction could be a result of his non-compliance.
Mr Rao was an MPTC member from Kothuru. This time, he did not contest owing to the change in reservations. Kothagudem SP Sunil Dutt said that police is investigating.
Mr Rao’s wife Durga told news channels that almost 15 people, some of them carrying weapons and sticks, dragged her husband out of their house while she and her son Praveen pleaded them to let him go. She said they beat up the family. “When we tried to stop them, they pointed a gun at me. We were not allowed to step out of our house,” she said.
The police said that nearly 200 villagers and Rao’s family members had gone to Chhattisgarh to locate him.
