'Barbaric Maha police snatched our ornaments'

A group of women Telugu Desam Party legislators who were arrested along with party chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Maharashtra, have accused the police of that state of "barbaric" and "brutal" behaviour, and snatching their gold and silver ornaments.

Recounting the experiences during the period of their detention from July 16 to 20, the five women MLAs who returned to Hyderabad on Tuesday night said, "It was five days and four nights of plain torture at the hands of the Maharashtra police... The police even snatched our gold and silver ornaments besides damaging our mobile phones. The Maharashtra police's behaviour was barbaric. We were treated so inhumanly by them that we never thought we will return alive (to Hyderabad)."

There

were no basic facilities at the Industrial Training Institute in Dharmabad where the arrested TDP leaders were detained for five days, said MLAs Satyavathi Rathod, Seeta Dayakar Reddy, Uma Madhava Reddy, Paritala Sunitha Seetakka and Annapurnamma.

They also accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah of "remaining indifferent" despite such "atrocious" treatment meted out to them by the Maharashtra government.

On Saturday, Naidu and his supporters were arrested in Dharmabad for violating prohibitory orders and insisting on visiting the controversial Babhli barrage site in Nanded district.