Bhubaneswar, July 20: In the wake of the recent snatching and loot spree in the capital there have been allegations of police detaining even innocent people.

The family of Srinibash Swain, a 20-year-old youth from Old Town, who is missing after allegedly being picked up by the police on July 12, today lodged a complaint with the human rights commission.

Sabita Swain, the mother of Srinibash, said that the Lingaraj police picked up her son while he was sitting at the betel shop of his uncle in Old Town.

“My brother has asked Srinibash to manage the shop for sometime as he was taking a break. However, when my brother returned he found the shop open and Srinibash missing,” said his mother.

The next day the family members decided to file a missing report and when they went to the Lingaraj police station they found Srinibash in the lock up.

“My son said that police had picked him up last night. When I asked policemen what was my son’s fault, they said he would be let off after questioning,” said Sabita adding that next day Srinibash was shifted to Badagada police station for enquiry.

On July 15 the family members went to Badagada police station to meet with Srinibash. When they asked the police about his fault, the officers instead of giving any reason threatened them.

“Next day when we went to the police station, we were told that my son was in Laxmi Sagar police station. We even went to meet him there,” said the mother adding that on no occasion did the police tell her about the charges against Srinibash.

However, she said that since July 18 her son was missing even from Laxmi Sagar police station. He was not found anywhere.

“Since last three days we have not seen our son. We have submitted petitions to the commissioner of police and director-general of police. But we are yet to get a reply,” said Sabita.

She said that the human rights commission had assured her to take steps against the alleged violation of her son’s rights by the police. However, the deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh said that he was not aware of any such matter.