Russian oligarch victim of apparent fatal accident in India
The body of Pavel Antov, 65, a member of a regional parliament in Russia, was discovered Sunday in a pool of blood outside the luxury hotel in eastern India where he was vacationing with three other Russians. He fell and died from the hotel terrace. On Thursday, one of his travel companions, Vladimir Bidenov, was discovered unconscious in the same hotel, apparently having suffered a heart attack, and could not be revived.
Police have reviewed all CCTV footage, interviewed hotel staff pending detailed autopsies, but have so far found no leads to suggest a homicide. “Check all possible angles on the death of the two Russians”regional police chief Rajesh Pandit said. The heart attack that took the life of Vladimir Bidenov was likely caused by alcohol abuse and a possible drug overdose, he said.
As for Pavel Antov, “He was probably disturbed by the death of his friend and went to the terrace of the hotel, from where he probably fell to his death”explained the police chief.
Pavel Antov, a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, has been a deputy in a regional parliament located 150 kilometers east of Moscow since 2018. Before entering politics, he founded the company Vladimirski Standart, which specializes in the import and export of sausages, and in 2019 found himself at the top of the list of Russia’s richest deputies and politicians in the Russian edition of the magazine Forbes.
In June, Russian media published a WhatsApp message attributed to Pavel Antov claiming that Russian bombing of Ukraine was an act of “terrorism”. Mr. Antov had on the Russian social network VK denied having written this message, saying that he supported it “special military operation”official formula of the authorities to designate the war waged by Russia against Ukraine.
