Rayagada(Odisha): In the high-profile case of the twin deaths of Putin-critic lawmaker Pavel Antov and his friend in Odisha, the medical authorities in the state have not preserved the Russian MP's viscera even though police have not yet clarified whether it was suicide or murder.
The postmortem reports have revealed that the MP died of internal injuries while his fellow-traveller passed away due to cardiac arrest. Antov was found dead near his hotel in Rayagada after he allegedly jumped from the third floor on December 25. His co-traveller Vladimir Bidenov died of a heart attack just three days prior to Antov's death.
Dr Lalmohan Routrai, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Rayagada said that the post-mortem of Vladimir Bidenov was conducted at the District Headquarters Hospital on December 24 and of Pavel Antov on December 26. Interestingly, the viscera of Bidenov have been preserved while that of Antov has not been preserved, the CDMO said.
Viscera are soft internal organs of the body, including the lungs, the heart, and the organs of the digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems, and are usually preserved in cases where the cause of death is unknown or there are chances of foul play.
Routrai said the postmortem reports have already been submitted to the police. The viscera will be sent to the forensic laboratory in Bhubaneswar. Meanwhile, the other two co-travellers, Pansasenko Natalia (44) and Turov Mikhail (64) have been asked not to leave the state.
The two along with the group's tour guide were questioned at the Bhubaneswar Crime Branch office on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Odisha DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal on Tuesday ordered a CID probe into the case. A Crime Branch Team consisting of five officers headed by DSP Tapan Kumar Dash was formed to probe the case.
The team got in touch with the Rayagada District Police and collected all the relevant medical and police papers and photographs. Apart from interrogating the two Russian Nationals, the team also questioned interpreter Jitendra Singh who was accompanying the group and guiding them during their tour in Odisha. The team also questioned Natobar Mohanty, the driver of the Innova car the group was using in Odisha.
Manish Tewari suggests foul play
Meanwhile, Congress leader Manish Tewari suggested "foul play" in case and questioned. "Russian Oligarch ..War Critic..Off beat hotel..Convenient window..Fall…Death..Colleague died 2 days earlier..same hotel ….Both cremated in India..being Christians not buried..Bodies not sent home to Russia IF THIS IS NOT UNNATURAL THEN I DID NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL," Tewari said in a tweet on Wednesday.
Antov, a Putin critic and a multi-millionaire, was allegedly shaken by his co-traveller's death and therefore killed himself. However, speculations about it being a hit job are also rife, even as a probe is underway. Antov's co-traveller Vladimir Bidenov died at a hospital after complaining of ill health on December 22.
Both of them were on a trip in Rayagada for Antov's 66th birthday celebrations. There were two more friends accompanying them -- Mikhail Turov and Natalia Panasenko -- who are a couple. The four had reached Daringibadi, a hill station in Kandhamal district on December 21, before heading to Rayagada. According to the probing officials, Bidenov and Antov shared a room at the Sai International Hotel in Rayagada town, while their friends were lodged in another room.
Also read: Putin critic Russian MP Pavel Antov found dead in Odisha days after colleague's death
The next morning, Bidenov fell sick and was rushed to the Rayagada district headquarters hospital where he was declared dead. Police informed the Russian Embassy in New Delhi about the incident. His last rites were performed by the police at the local cremation ground on Saturday.
The probing officials have not yet discarded the possibility of Antov's death being a murder -- especially given Antov's background of openly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin once. In June 2022, Antov had allegedly criticized Russia's missile attack on a residential block in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv that left a man dead and his seven-year-old daughter and her mother wounded.
Reports said that a WhatsApp message on Antov's account read: "It's extremely difficult to call all this anything but terror." The message was later deleted and Antov posted on social media that he was a supporter of President Vladimir Putin and backed the war. He claimed that the WhatsApp message had come from "someone whose opinion on the special military operation in Ukraine he strongly disagreed with and was posted accidentally on his messenger".
Pavel Antov was the founder of Vladimir Standard, a meat processing plant. In 2019, Forbes estimated his fortune at some $140m as his name was counted among the richest Russian lawmakers.
