Bhubaneswar, July 14: Police role has come under the scanner following the death of a 25-year-old youth from Sabar Sahi, a slum in the Saheed Nagar police station jurisdiction.

The youth died this morning after the local police had dropped him home in an unconscious state last night.

Sources said employees of a local restaurant had beaten up Shatrughna Behera, the deceased youth, over petty issues. The police, however, said they dropped Behera home after someone dialled 100 and informed them about a youth lying on the road in an unconscious state.

Behera's mother Mukta suspected the involvement of the local police in the death of his son and raised question over the way they had handled everything.

"I don't know whether anyone has assaulted my son, but the cops dropped him home at midnight. At that time, he was unconscious. My son died later. Had he been unconscious during the police rescue, the cops could have taken him well to a hospital. Instead, they brought him here," she said.

Inspector in-charge of Saheed Nagar police station Deepak Kumar Mishra, however, refuted the allegations and said that when the cops received a call about the youth lying unconscious, a police control room van was rushed to the spot for his assistance.

"He was never detained by the police. We only dropped him home," said Mishra.

The slum dwellers demanded a probe into the incident and immediate arrest of the restaurant owner and its employees.

"If the police knew that he was beaten up by the restaurant employees, they could have taken him to a hospital. Instead they dropped him home in an unconscious state. We suspect that he might have been beaten up in the police custody," alleged a slum dweller on condition of anonymity.

In June 2012, a person, identified as Kuldeep Mahapatra, died in the Saheed Nagar police custody after the cops had allegedly beaten him up.

It was alleged that Mahapatra had extorted money from a businessman by identifying himself as an inspector of the special branch. Though the police claimed that a mob had beaten him up, the deceased's family members alleged that the cops had tortured him in the custody, which led to his death. The CBI is investigating the case.