A younger brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi staged a “dharna” at Lucknow airport for two hours on Wednesday, alleging police had detained people who had come to receive him.

Prahlad Damodardas Modi, 66, who owns a shop in Ahmedabad, had arrived from Delhi at 2pm and was to travel to Sultanpur where the Yoga Social Society, which teaches yoga, planned to felicitate him.

However, a Lucknow officer said, the police had detained a group of 10 people from the organisation who had come in three SUVs from Sultanpur and were headed to Amausi Airport to welcome Prahlad Modi.

“The Sultanpur administration had told us a case had been registered against these 10 people on Tuesday for using pictures of the Prime Minister, home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the banners of their private programme,” the officer said.

He added that the “credentials” of the detainees were “doubtful”. The Yoga society’s version could not be obtained.

Officially, the police denied any detentions. “We did not detain anybody,” additional deputy commissioner Chiranjeev Nath Sinha said.

Prahlad Modi sat in a chair at the exit gate of the terminal and told security personnel he was on a dharna. He threatened to start a hunger strike if those detained were not released immediately.

Media reports quoted him as saying: “About 100 of my followers were on their way to the airport to receive me…. Police officers told me there were instructions from the PM’s office to detain them. I asked the officers to show me the order, which they failed to bring to me.”

The Lucknow officer said: “We released them (detainees) and arranged a conversation on a mobile phone between them and Prahlad Modi. He then agreed to leave for Sultanpur in a car that was waiting for him at the airport.”

After the Sultanpur event, Prahlad Modi is scheduled to be felicitated also at Jaunpur and Pratapgarh by the organisation, which appears to have branches in several states and cities including Ahmedabad, sources said.