IB begins probe as Congress claims foul play in Putin critic's death

KORAPUT/BHUBANESWAR: A three-member team of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) visited the hotel in Rayagada where Putin critic Pavel Antov (65) and his co-traveller Bydanov Vladimir (61) died under mysterious conditions last week.
The crime branch, which is investigating the deaths, dispatched a seven-member team, including four officers, two forensic experts and a photographer to Rayagada on Thursday evening to identify and collect the evidence from the spot.
"The IB team scanned the CCTV footage, questioned a few of our staff and checked the hotel vicinity," said a hotel staff member. Thereafter, the team visited the Siriguda crematorium on the outskirts of Rayagada town where the bodies were cremated before going to the Rayagada town police station.
Congress leader Manish Tewari tweeted a video raising suspicion on the circumstances leading to the deaths and the way things were handled after that. "Russian Oligarch ..War Critic..Off beat hotel..Convenient window..Fall...Death..Colleague died 2 days earlier..same hotel ....Both cremated in India..being Christians not buried..Bodies not sent home to Russia..IF THIS IS NOT UNNATURAL THEN I DID NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL @Naveen_Odisha," tweeted Tewari, who is also a Supreme Court lawyer.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Odisha Police are probing the deaths as per Indian laws. “We are aware of it and the Odisha Police are investigating it as per our laws. Let’s wait for the results of those investigations,” Bagchi said.
Questioning of Russian couple, Pansasenko Natalia (44) and her husband Turov Mikhail, and their Indian guide Jitendra Singh, who were with the deceased, continued at the crime branch headquarters in Cuttack for the third consecutive day. “The CB team is trying to ascertain the exact sequence of events that took place. Both the Russian tourists are fully cooperating with the enquiry,” a CB statement said.
DGP Sunil Bansal said they are investigating with an open mind to ascertain the truth. “Let’s wait for the outcome without jumping to any conclusion,” he said.
Asenior crime branch officer said the three were questioned separately and their responses were being matched to figure out what had exactly happened. “As of now, there is nothing to direct the investigation in any particular direction. It is, however, too early to conclude,” he said.