Transgender candidate M Chandramukhi, who is contesting the Telangana Assembly elections from a constituency in the city, turned up at a police station late Wednesday night.
Chandramukhi M, a transwoman, is the first transgender candidate in Telangana.
Chandramukhi (32) is contesting the election from Goshamahal as a candidate of the Bahujan Left Front. She was earlier missing since early Tuesday. She reached Banjara Hills police station along with her lawyer and some members of the transgender community.
She refused to give a statement to police about her whereabouts, saying she will reveal all the details in court on Thursday.
The Hyderabad High Court had on Wednesday directed the police to produce her in the court on Thursday.
Read | Telangana polls: First transgender candidate ‘missing’, feared ‘kidnapped’
The court passed orders on a habeas corpus petitioned filed by Chandramukhi’s mother Ananthamma.
Earlier, a missing case was registered at the Banjara Hills police station on a complaint by her mother.
Chandramukhi is contesting against senior Congress leader Mukhesh Goud and BJP leader T Raja Singh.
Her friends from the transgender community, who arrived to help her with campaigning were unable to locate her on Wednesday, the police said based on a complaint.
“She has been unreachable and her mother has been in a state of extreme despair. She is feared to be kidnapped,” the complaint filed by Chandramukhi’s followers with the Banjara Hills Police Station, said.
As an activist with ‘Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti’ Chandramukhi had protested atrocities upon members of the transgender and hijra communities, and had always been an outspoken voice at many rallies and public events upholding the self-respect of transgender people, her followers said.
Her decision to contest was also a decision that she felt would help the entire community, they said.
“We fear for her safety and condemn the lack of safety measures organised for her and for other women and transgender candidates, which acts as a strong force that dissuades transgender people and women from joining politics,” they said.
Chandramukhi’s campaign kicked off just one day before she went missing, her supporters said and demanded that police act immediately to trace her.
Reports of Chandramukhi going missing come even as a candidate from Gajwel constituency, who had reportedly gone missing after filing his nomination papers on November 22, was produced before the Hyderabad High Court Tuesday, a day after the court directed the police to produce him before it.
The counting of votes for Telangana, along with four other poll-bound states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh, will take place on December 11.
(With inputs from agencies)