Moscow’s mission in Delhi says no criminal aspect, but Odisha Police orders CID probe into deaths of two Russians

The deaths of two Russians in Odisha in eastern India fuelled speculation, as one of the deceased – a millionaire politician-cum-tycoon – had a few months back posted and then quickly withdrawn a message criticizing his country’s war against Ukraine.

The Embassy of Russia in New Delhi claimed that a probe by the local cops had not found any criminal aspect in the deaths of Antov and Budanov. The Odisha Police, however, decided to continue the investigation into the case.

Pavel Antov, a millionaire and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast, died after falling from a window at a hotel in Rayagada in Odisha on Sunday. His friend, Vladimir Budanov, who had accompanied him and two others on the tour, had died at the same hotel after suffering a stroke on Friday.

The Consulate General of Russia in Kolkata is following the case (and) in touch with local authorities, a spokesperson of Moscow’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi stated, adding: “According to information available to the police, no criminal aspect is seen”.

But Sunil Kumar Bansal, the Director General of Police of Odisha, on Tuesday ordered the state’s Crime Investigation Department to launch an investigation into the deaths of the two citizens of Russia.

The Odisha Police tweeted to confirm the launch of the probe by the CID (Crime Branch).

The deaths of Antov and Budanov fuelled speculation as Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s regime had earlier come under scanner for mysterious deaths of several of his critics, not only in his country, but in other countries too.

Read | Vladimir Putin's critics: Dead, jailed, exiled

Antov, 65, ran a meat processing plant at Vladimir near Moscow.

He had purportedly reacted after a missile fired by the Russian Army had hit a residential block at Shevchenkivskyi in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in June. The attack had left a man dead and his wife and his seven-year-old daughter injured. “It's extremely difficult to call all this anything but terror,” a WhatsApp message that Anton had posted had read. It had described how the family had been pulled out of the rubble after the missile strike.

The message had been deleted later with Antov claiming that the message had come from someone else and had been accidentally posted on his messenger. He had also claimed that he had been a supporter of Putin and had full support for Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine.

Antov celebrated his birthday at Rayagada just before Budanov died on Friday. He, himself, died on Sunday.

Several business leaders of Russia died in mysterious circumstances after Putin ordered the launch of the “special military operations” in Ukraine. They included Ravil Maganov, the head of Lukoil (a leading oil and gas company of Russia), Ivan Pechorin, the director of aviation of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), Vladislav Avayev, former vice president of Gazprombank, and Alexander Buzakov, director general of Admiralty Shipyards.

"Our colleague, a successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist Pavel Antov passed away. On behalf of the deputies of the United Russia faction, I express my deep condolences to relatives and friends," Vyacheslav Kartukhin, Vice Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast, posted on Telegram Channel.