Bhubaneswar: The state police in Odisha said there did not appear to be any foul play in the death of Russian lawmaker and businessman Pavel Antov, who allegedly threw himself from the second floor of a hotel in Rayagada on December 24, two days after his fellow traveller died of a heart attack, in a case that has piqued global interest because Anton was critical of the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
Senior police officers in Odisha said that Antov, 65, who owned Vladmirskiy Standart, a meat and sausages firm, was found lying unconscious on the first-floor terrace of an under-construction building next to the Sai International Hotel in Rayagada. They said he likely jumped from a building in the same complex.
“We suspect that he might have jumped from the terrace of the second floor of the hotel room to the terrace of a single-storey building in the same compound. We have lodged a case of unnatural death in this connection,” said Rashmi Ranjan Pradhan, inspector-in-charge of Rayagada town police station, adding that they did not suspect any foul play at this stage of the investigation.
Odisha’s Director General of Police Sunil Bansal said the post-mortem examination of Antov and Bydanov has been completed, and that no foul play was detected.
“There is no foul play. While Bydanov died of heart attack, Antov most likely jumped from the roof of the hotel terrace. But the district police is investigating the exact cause of death, and the CID (criminal investigation department) will assist district police in the probe to find out the circumstances leading to their death. If required, CID will completely take over the investigation of the case,” said Bansal. Later in the day, he handed over the probe to the CID.
{{/usCountry}}“There is no foul play. While Bydanov died of heart attack, Antov most likely jumped from the roof of the hotel terrace. But the district police is investigating the exact cause of death, and the CID (criminal investigation department) will assist district police in the probe to find out the circumstances leading to their death. If required, CID will completely take over the investigation of the case,” said Bansal. Later in the day, he handed over the probe to the CID.
{{/usCountry}}Koushik Thakkar, the owner of the hotel, said that Antov was “behaving strangely” after his friend, 61-year-old Vladimir Bydanov died of a heart attack on the morning of December 22.
“Antov and Bydanov had been drinking heavily after they arrived at the hotel. On 22nd morning, Bydanov died in his room after suffering a heart attack. Antov, who accompanied the body to the cremation ground, was visibly disturbed. Since then, he had stopped ordering food. On December 24 morning, when our hotel staff did not find him in his room they started looking for him, and found him lying in an unconscious state on the terrace of a single-storey building. We then informed the police,” said Thakkar.
Thakkar said Antov, along with Bydanov and a Russian couple, Mikhail Turov and Natalia Panasenko, checked into the hotel on December 21 after travelling from Kandhamal district. The four, who travelled from Russia on tourist visa, arrived in Odisha on December 18 from Delhi, and were planning to celebrated Antov’s 66th birthday at the hotel on December 22, hotel staff said.
Local tourist guide Jitendra Singh, who had made the arrangements for the Russian tourists, said they were carrying liquor bottles with them when they arrived on December 21 afternoon, and bought more alcohol from the hotel bar. “They were supposed to travel to Jeypore town of neighbouring Koraput district,” he said.
Police said they were questioning the travel agent the Russians had used to understand why the tourists had decided to celebrate Antov’s birthday in Rayagada
Police have informed the Russian embassy about the two deaths.
While Bydanov’s body was cremated, Antov’s body is being preserved for further investigation. The Russian couple, Mikhail Turov and Natalia Panasenko, who were in the hotel, have checked out.
In June, Antov,a legislator from Russia’s Vladimir province, posted a message on social media, criticising Russia’s war on Ukraine by pointing to the effects of Russian missile strike on a child by saying that it was difficult to call this “anything but terror”. He quickly withdrew the comment, calling it an unfortunate misunderstanding and a technical error.
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