TRS leader found dead three days after being kidnapped by Naxals

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader Nalluri Srinivas Rao, who was abducted by Naxals from his house three days ago in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district of Telangana, was found dead in Puttapadu village of Sukma District in Chhattisgarh, police said Friday.

45-year-old Srinivas Rao, a local Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader, was abducted from Kothur village in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district around midnight on Monday.

"His body was found in Errampadu, a small hamlet in Chhattisgarh. There was an injury on his head. We have to ascertain how he died. Only after an inquest can we exactly say how he died and whether it is a bullet injury or head injury," Rajesh Chandra, Additional Superintendent of Police Bhadrachalam, told PTI.

Police got information on Friday evening about the body lying between Errapadu and Puttapadu, an interior place, on Telangana-Chattisgarh border, he said.

The Naxals, who abducted the TRS leader, had left behind a letter saying Rao was killed as he was a police informer.

Police made all efforts to trace Rao during the last three days in the area, heavily infested by Naxals, he said.

The Naxals had abducted a villager in May this year, but he returned safely, the police official added.

Rao's wife, Durga, had earlier told news channels that around 10-15 unidentified people, some of them carrying weapons and sticks, had dragged her husband out of their house even as she and her son pleaded with them. She said they beat up all of them.

"When we tried to stop them, they also pointed a gun at me. We were not allowed to step out of our house," she had added.

A police release later quoted the Bhdradri-Kothagudem Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt as saying that Rao was not a police informer, but a farmer who earned a good name by helping others

The SP said the Naxals were extorting money from farmers and businessmen in Charla area for their survival and targeted those who stood by farmers.

The Maoists have threatened many contractors and farmers for money and resorted to such violent acts if someone refused to pay, he said.

With PTI Inputs