A Russian national who was working as a chief engineer in a cargo ship, was found dead onboard in Odisha, police said on Tuesday. This is the third Russian found dead in the state within a span of two weeks.

Marine police along with other statutory authorities will carry out an investigation of the death of the Russian national, namely Milyakov Sergey, and after that only the final report will be available, police said. Earlier On December 24, Russian national Pavel Antov died after allegedly falling from a hotel’s third floor. Another Russian national Vladimir Bidenov had earlier died “due to heart attack”, Odisha Police said, citing the 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.