Chandramukhi Muvvala, a trans woman who is contesting the upcoming Telangana polls, has gone missing. She has reportedly been missing since 8.25 am on Tuesday; based on the missing person's complaint, an FIR has been filed. The police said that they are reviewing CCTV footage.
“She went to sleep at 5 am, and asked someone to wake her up at 7 am. The last call she received was at 8.17 am, and her phone was switched off somewhere at Yaramanzil Colony, 2-3 km from her residence in Banjara Hills. She was noticed missing since 8.25 am and the door of her house is locked from the outside,” the Banjara Hills SHO said.
Chandramukhi, a well-known face in Hyderabad’s trans community, is contesting from the Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad on a Bahujan Left Front (BLF) ticket. She will be taking on bigwigs such as the BJP’s Raja Singh and Congress’ Mukesh Goud. Vinu, who is tasked with the campaign schedule told the press that Chandramukhi would inform him where she was going, and who she is meeting. “We approached the police only at 2.30 pm. We waited, hoping she would come back by then,” he said.
Vinu also alleged that a person who was found lurking around her house in the CCTV footage could be involved in her disappearance. “A white SUV came to the premises at 7.58 am. A person could be seen in the video looking or searching, either for someone or for a location. We suspect that this person is somehow linked to her disappearance,” he said.
Anitha Muvvala, Chandramukhi’s mother said that she last spoke to her daughter between 8 and 9 pm on Monday.
“We talked about how the campaign was going and she told me she was happy with the way things were progressing,” Anitha said.
"We fear for her safety and condemn the lack of safety measures organized for her and for other women and transgender candidates, which acts as a strong force that dissuades transgender persons and women from joining politics. Chandramukhi's campaign kicked off just one day before she went missing," a press release of the Telangana Hijra Trans Samiti said.
Chandramukhi is the first and the only transgender candidate out of 3,584 candidates contesting in the upcoming Telangana elections on December 7. In her interview with TNM earlier this week she expressed her intention to fix the bare basics in Goshamahal.
“I'm not promising them the world and I won’t promise to provide each and every person with a job and that I will do everything. Road facility is terrible, roadside areas and by-lanes are in bad shape, housing schemes are bad; we don't even have water facilities in some areas. Drainage collection is bad and there is a division between the rich and the poor. I will remove that first,”, said Chandramukhi to TNM.