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Russian lawmaker’s death in Odisha: CID to conduct dummy simulation exercise
Russian lawmaker and multi-millionaire Pavel Antov fell to his death from the terrace of a two-storey hotel in Rayagada district on December 24
The Odisha CID will conduct a dummy simulation exercise to find out how Russian lawmaker and multi-millionaire Pavel Antov fell to his death from the terrace of a two-storey hotel in Rayagada district, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Antov, 65, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, was found in a pool of blood on the terrace of a under-construction single-story building in Sai International Hotel of Rayagada on the evening of December 24. Two days before, his friend, 61-year-old Vladimir Bidenov had died of “heart attack” in the hotel room.
Antov’s post-mortem, conducted at Ryagada district headquarters hospital on December 26, said that the injuries were ante-mortem (happened before death, but may have contributed to the death) in nature. The report said at least four ribs on the left side were broken and blood deposited in the thoracic cavity.
The district police who initially investigated the incident claimed that Antov could have jumped from the terrace of the second floor of the hotel room, two days after his friend Bidenov died of “heart attack”. “The stomach was filled with 100 ml of fluid with a peculiar smell like opium and ganja,” Bidenov’s report added.
CID officials familiar with the matter said a dummy of the same weight and height of the deceased will be created with the help of the AIIMS Anatomy Department and forensic experts. The CID has contacted Dr Rajendra Dangi, former director of Central Forensic Science Laboratory of the CBI and Dr T.D. Dogra of AIIMS, Delhi who are the leading experts in dummy fall simulation exercise.
The two experts will ascertain the cause, nature, and manner of the incident and injuries on the body of Antov and try to see if they match with the post-mortem report. The CID team which collected samples of the ashes of Antov from the cremation ground continued their probe quizzing the hotel staff and examining the exhibits seized by the Rayagada police.
Meanwhile, the post mortem report of Russian chief engineer Serget Milyakov, 50, who died on a cargo ship in Paradip on Tuesday, revealed injury on head near the left eyebrow. Milyakov, who was part of the 23 crew members of cargo ship MV Al Danah was found dead in the ship a day after it anchored off Paradip port of Odisha. Officials said it is suspected that the injury may have been on account of a fall following a heart attack.
