New Delhi: Families of the two Russians who died under mysterious circumstances in Odisha’s Rayagada district earlier this month had authorised authorities to cremate the men in India and send their ashes to Moscow, sources in the Odisha police told ThePrint, adding that there is a tradition in the families of the deceased to cremate the dead.
“Family of the deceased sent authorisation to the Russian consulate in Kolkata, but to officially verify if the documents sent to the embassy were genuine, we conducted an independent enquiry and got in touch with the family of both men,” said a police source.
Officers from Odisha Police spoke with the families of both Pavel Antov and Vladimir Bidenov to confirm whether they had consented to the cremation, the source added.
A millionaire who made his fortune in the sausage business before he became a lawmaker in the city of Vladimir, Antov (65) was found dead on the terrace of a building adjoining a hotel in Odisha’s Rayagada district on 24 December.
Seen as a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Antov, police suspect, fell from the third floor of Hotel Sai International — where he was staying along with three other Russian nationals — hours after he attended the cremation of Vladimir Bidenov, his fellow traveller, who died of a suspected cardiac arrest in his hotel room on 22 December.
According to police sources, Antov’s daughter and Vladimir’s son gave the consent to have their bodies cremated in Odisha.
“The family said that they were okay with a cremation instead of a burial because in their tradition, they too cremate their dead. Antov’s daughter informed us that her mother too, was cremated and not buried,” said the police source quoted earlier. “Moreover, they said that in their tradition, they can perform rituals only with the ashes,” the source added.
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Planned trip in November, Jorhat was next stop
According to police sources, chats recovered from cell phones of the deceased and their travel agent show that Antov’s trip to India was planned in the month of November.
The group of four, having planned a two-week trip, was to fly to Jorhat in Assam on 29 November to explore the Northeast, sources added.
“Their plan was to visit places in Odisha and then head to the Northeast. We have recovered chats in which Pavel Antov is telling his travel agent that he wants to visit tribal areas in India. They first went to Daringbadi before coming to Rayagada. Their next stop was Jeypore in Odisha and then they were to fly to Jorhat,” said the source quoted earlier.
Sources also said that this was not the first time Antov, Bidenov, and the other two Russian nationals were travelling together since they had been to a number of countries together prior to their trip to India.
Questioning of the travel agent they hired upon their arrival in New Delhi further revealed that Antov was yet to pay him for his services.
“The agent has said that although he (Antov) had paid for his tickets, he was yet to pay for the hotel stay and the money they were spending during the trip,” the source said, adding that the Odisha Police Crime Branch is probing “all possible angles” in the case.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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