- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Responding to the mysterious deaths of two Russian citizens in a hotel in the eastern Indian state of Odisha in a span of two days, the Russian embassy in the South Asian nation on Tuesday (27) said the state’s police were yet to discover a criminal link in the twin incidents.
Vladimir Bidenov and Pavel Antov died at the same hotel in Rayagada district of Odisha, according to local reports, triggering suspicion that the deaths could be cases of hit job as critics of Russian president Vladimir Putin have died in similar ways in Russia in the past.
Of the two, Antov, a businessman and a lawmaker in Russia, had recently criticised Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine but retracted his statement later, according to reports. He was found dead after falling from the hotel’s third floor, two days after Bidenov was found lifeless.
The 65-year-old Antov was found lying in a pool of blood outside the hotel in Odisha on Saturday (24), according to the police who said that they suspected it to be a case of suicide as the Russian man was reportedly depressed over one of his friend’s death, Press Trust of India reported.
Earlier on Thursday (22), Bidenov, Antov’s co-traveller, was found lying unconscious in his room on the same hotel’s first floor with some empty bottles of wine around him. When he was rushed to a local hospital, the doctors announced him dead.
“We are aware of the tragedy that happened in Odisha, where two of our citizens died. One of them is Pavel Antov, member of the Legislative Assembly of the Vladimir Oblast. We are in constant contact with the relatives of the deceased as well as with local authorities. As far as we know, police do not yet see a criminal component in these tragic events,” Indian channel NDTV quoted the Russian embassy in India as saying.
Bidenov and Antov were part of a four-member group of Russian tourists, who had checked into the hotel along with their guide Jitendra Singh on Wednesday (21).
The remaining two members of the group were told to stay back and cooperate with the investigation, local police said.
