Indian police are investigating the cause of death of the Russian oligarch who fell from the third-floor window of a hotel in India, authorities announced on Tuesday.
The body of Pavel Antov, aged 65, was found in front of the hotel where he was staying, in Odisha state, where he was vacationing with three other Russian citizens.
Antov died two days after one of his companions, Vladimir Bidenov, was found unconscious after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the same hotel.
“For now, it seems that Antov accidentally fell from the hotel terrace,” regional police chief Rajesh Pandit told AFP.
“Probably distraught over his friend’s death, he went to the hotel terrace and fell”he added.
Antov, who represented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “United Russia” party, had been a member of a regional parliament 150 kilometers east of Moscow since 2018.
Before entering politics, he founded a food processing company and in 2019 was ranked by the Russian edition of Forbes magazine as the richest among all parliamentarians and senior civil servants in the country.
In June, the Russian press published a WhatsApp message attributed to Antov, in which he called a bombing of the Kremlin in Ukraine “terrorism”. However, the deputy denied the allegations and insisted he supported Russia’s “special military operation” in the neighboring country.
“All possible leads are being checked” regarding the deaths of the two Russian citizens, Pandit stressed.
According to the police chief, Bidenov’s respiratory arrest could have been caused by alcohol consumption and a possible overdose.
Rajesh Pandit stated that Antov and his friends visited several cities before arriving at the hotel in Rayagada city.
Local authorities also added that security footage is being reviewed and hotel staff will be questioned pending detailed autopsy reports. In the course of the investigation, the other two Russian citizens in the group were questioned, as well as two local travel agents who accompanied them.
Antov’s death adds to the list of Russian millionaires who have died under mysterious circumstances since the beginning of the war.
Last September, the executive director of the Russian Far East Development Corporation, Ivan Pechorin, died after falling from a ship in the Sea of Japan near Russky Island.
In the same month, the president of the Russian oil company Lukoil, Ravil Maganov, 67, died after falling from the window of the Moscow hospital where he was being treated. Lukoil’s board of directors was critical of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
Source: DN
