The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has noted that Odisha police took prompt action to investigate the deaths of two Russian tourists, one of them a critic of President Vladimir Putin, in Rayagada district last year.
The NHRC has accepted the police report that the death of Pavel Antov, 65, the Putin critic, was accidental in nature while Vladimir Bidenov, 61, had died from cardiac and respiratory failure.
Antov and Bidenov, along with their friends Natalia Panasenko and Mikhail Turov, had checked into Sai International Hotel in Raygada town on December 21 last year. The next day, Bidenov was found dead. Two days later, Antov fell from the hotel building and died.
The death of Antov, a millionaire businessman, had raised a number of questions, as had the Odisha police’s decision to cremate the Russians.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari had tweeted: “Two Christians cremated not buried! Hercule Poirot says burnt bodies tell no tales.”
Human rights activist Rabindra Kumar Mishra had filed a complaint with the NHRC.
Communicating its decision to Mishra on Wednesday, the NHRC said: “In the reported matter of deaths of two Russian nationals, the police and (other) authorities took prompt action in accordance with the law. UD (unnatural deaths) cases were registered and due procedures were adopted. The machinery of law (has) been set to motion, the Commission finds no further reason to intervene in the matter and the case is closed.”
It added: “The Commission took cognisance in the matter on December 30th, 2022, and directed the SP, Rayagada, Odisha, to look into the matter and submit an action-taken report within four weeks.”
The Rayagada police chief submitted his inquiry report to the NHRC on January 25. According to the police report, Bidenov was declared “brought dead” at the District Headquarters Hospital at 10am on December 22, 2022. After getting due clearances from the ministry of external affairs, the post-mortem was done and the viscera preserved for a chemical examination. Bidenov’s body was handed over to Antov and he was later cremated.