Bhubaneswar, June 24: Sujata Pradhan, a rugby player who represented the state in the National Games held in Kerala this year, has been missing from the city since May 18.

Police have registered a case of kidnapping and are looking into the matter following a complaint lodged by Kailash Pradhan, the father of the 18-year-old player.

Kailash said his daughter had not come home since May 18. "She usually goes out for practice at Kalinga Stadium every day around 2pm and returns home by 7pm. On May 18, she left home as usual and took a bus to the stadium but did not return. We have tried to contact her on her two mobile phones, but both are switched off," said Kailash, a resident of Pada Sahi village under Dadha Panchayat within the Nandankanan police limits.

Kailash said they tried to trace her by calling her relatives, but they, too, did not know her whereabouts. He also alleged that though he had gone to Nandankanan police station five days after the incident, they refused to entertain him. Finally, he managed to lodge the complaint yesterday.

Kailash suspects that Sujata may have been kidnapped. "We have no clue where she has gone. She was under no stress, so we suspect that someone might have abducted her," he said.

A Plus Two final-year student of Kunja Bihari College at Barang, Sujata had won a gold medal in the National Women's Rugby Championship held this year. Besides, she had also won a gold and silver medal in the under-19 competition at the 60th National School Rugby Championship in 2014-15.

However, Nandankanan police, who are now probing into the case, found anomalies in the statement of Sujata's father. "While her father claimed that she had last gone to Kalinga Stadium on May 18, her coach told us that she has not attended any practice sessions for the past four months," said a police officer.

Inspector in-charge of Nandankanan police station Pravash Pal said they had registered a case of kidnapping and started an investigation into the matter.