BHUBANESWAR: Even as controversy has erupted over the cremation of Pavel Antov, the family and kin of the deceased Russian lawmaker have reportedly acknowledged to Crime Branch investigators that they had accorded due permission for it. The funeral ritual was followed by his family.
As part of the enquiry by Odisha Police, Crime Branch officials established contact with Antov’s family members. The Russian billionaire, sources said, was married twice and divorced from both wives. The second divorce was recent.
Thirty-five-year-old Anna Antova, daughter of the first wife, was reportedly contacted by the probe agency and she confirmed issuing the power of attorney to Mikhail Turov. Turov and his partner Natalia Panasenko were travelling with Antov and his friend Vladmir Bydanov in Odisha.
Anna is believed to have told the Indian investigators that Antov’s mother was also cremated. The 66-year-old Russian lawmaker from Vladimir region’s second wife was also contacted by the Crime Branch officials as part of the enquiry.
Antov had died after falling from the third-floor terrace on December 24, two days after his friend succumbed to cardiac arrest. About the viscera of Antov not being preserved, Odisha Police sources said, the cause of death did not warrant it nor did the medical officer suggest the same given the circumstances.
Amidst controversy, Congress MP and former Union minister Manish Tewari weighed in questioning why the two Russians were cremated, and not buried as per Christian culture. He took to Twitter and posted (sic) “Russian Oligarch...War Critic..Offbeat 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.”
Responding to Tewari, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said cremation in Russia is as customary as burial. “We appreciate the investigation efforts by the Indian authorities into the deaths of two Russian nationals in Odisha,” he tweeted.
The Consul General’s office at Kolkata too said the kin expressed their will to have bodies cremated and ashes sent back.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said that Odisha police are investigating the death of two Russian citizens in the state adding he would not like to “jump the gun” until the investigation is complete.