Hyderabad: A transgender Lakshmi (name changed), was allegedly picked up by the KPHB police for interrogation, stripped naked and kept at the police station for four hours on Tuesday night.

“Lakshmi was picked up by two constables at 7 pm yesterday. She was stripped naked and kept so till 11:30 pm by the cops who made fun of her body. Lakshmi is HIV positive and her body is vulnerable to infections. She begged for her clothes in vain throughout the period,” said Vyjayanti, an activist from the Telangana Hijra Transgender Samiti.

According to the representation made by THTS to the Madhapur zone police, the KPHB cops had asked Lakshmi to help them in investigating the murder of Pravalika, a transgender sex worker who was killed in the wee hours of Saturday. As Lakshmi was a sex worker too the police sought her help and asked her to go to the place where Pravalika was murdered.

“They wanted to investigate if the murder was related to Pravalika being a sex worker and whether an inebriated sex maniac had committed the crime. The police apparently told Lakshmi that she might bump into the murderer. While Lakshmi was trying to help two cops rounded her up and whisked her off to the station,” explained Vyjayanti. Lakshmi wasn’t able to contact anyone as her phone was seized by the police.

Madhapur zone DCP Kartikeya said, “The THTS activists made a representation and a departmental inquiry has been initiated. It might take around three to four days for the inquiry to be completed and we can say something about this after that.”