Hyderabad, Nov 6 (IANS): Police in Andhra Pradesh Thursday arrested an associate professor of Andhra University on charges of having links with Maoists.

J. Appa Rao, an associate professor in the university's Telugu department, was presented before the media Thursday evening in Visakhapatnam.

Visakhapatnam Superintendent of Police K. Praveen said the professor had links with Maoists. Officials said he was also involved in supplying explosives to the extremists.

Two others were also arrested in the same case.

Plainclothes policemen picked up Appa Rao from his house in the university staff quarters around 2 a.m. Thursday.

His wife later filed a police complaint that he was kidnapped by some unidentified people who came in a car.

Police later announced Appa Rao's arrest and said he would be presented before the media.

Condemning the professor's arrest, university students staged a protest in front of the police superintendent's office.

They raised slogans against the police and demanded his immediate release.

Threatening to call an indefinite university shutdown, the students claimed the police had made false allegations against the professor.

Appa Rao is said to be a rights activist who used to actively participate in various movements for the protection of the rights of tribals.