Third Russian dies in Odisha in a fortnight, this time body found onboard ship

A Russian national serving as a chief engineer aboard a cargo ship was discovered dead onboard in Odisha on Tuesday, authorities said. This is the third Russian body discovered in the state in two weeks.

Marine police, together with other statutory agencies, will conduct an inquiry into the death of the Russian national, Milyakov Sergey, and only the final report will be made public, according to police.

Earlier Pavel Antov, a Russian national, died on December 24 after reportedly falling from the third storey of a hotel. Another Russian national, Vladimir Bidenov, died earlier “due to a heart attack,” according to Odisha Police, citing a post-mortem report.

A team of the Crime Branch along with the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) experts visited Sai International Hotel in Rayagada on December 30 where the Russian nationals were found dead. The team was led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Saroj Kant Mahanta.

The CID Crime Branch of Odisha Police stepped up the investigation of the death of two Russian nationals including a prominent lawmaker, in Rayagada.

The team inspected the place where the body of Pavel Antov was found lying. The entire area was thoroughly examined with the assistance of forensic experts. The details of the spot map were drawn mentioning all relevant references to the spot. A pair of slippers said to be of deceased Pavel Antov was recovered from the spot.

The investigating team searched for evidence from room no. 203 where Vladimir and Pavel were staying on December 21. It collected all the evidence including slippers and latent fingerprints from glass and other surfaces.

The team also searched thoroughly for evidence in room no. 309 where Pavel Antov was staying alone from December 22 night. Fingerprints found on the materials like glass and water bottles were collected.

The Crime Branch team also discussed with the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Rayagada, IIC Rayagada town police station about the evidence gathered by the local police during their spot visit on the date of the incident.

Odisha police said CID-Crime Branch has been cross-checking the information collected from their co-travellers Pansasenko Natalia and Turov Mikhail. They were further examined at CID-CB headquarters at Cuttack. Their statements were video recorded through an interpreter.

“Both the Russian tourists are fully cooperating with the inquiry,” the Crime Branch said in a statement.

According to the CID-Crime Branch, a preliminary investigation has revealed that the Russian nationals were on a trip to the tribal region of Odisha.