TRIPLE WHAMMY

Negligence shown in preserving evidence adds to the mystery surrounding the death of Russian tourists in Odisha

- LALIT PATTAJOSHI

After the kidnapping of two Italian tourists by Maoists in Kandhamal district a decade ago, Odisha is once again in the international spotlight, following the suspicious deaths of three Russians within a fortnight. The first two deaths were reported from the border district of Rayagada in the last week of December. Pavel Antov—a businessman and lawmaker, and a bitter critic of President Vladimir Putin—died after allegedly falling from his hotel’s third floor on Christmas eve. His friend Vladimir Bydanov was found dead barely 48 hours before that in the hotel room they shared in Rayagada. On January 3, the body of Sergy Miyalkov, a marine engineer employed by an Indian company, was found on board a cargo ship at Paradip port’s anchorage.

Antov, 65, and Bydanov, 61, arrived in Delhi on December 18. They reached Bhubaneswar the next day with two more Russians, Natalia Pansasenko and her husband, Mikhail Turov. The group was accompanied by their guide, Jitendra Singh. They first visited Daringbadi, a hill station in Kandhamal district, and reached Rayagada on December 21, where they checked in at hotel Sai International.

To accommodate the growing inflow of foreign tourists, nearly 40 hotels have come up in Rayagada, catering to various budget categories. The town is the headquarters of Rayagada district in southern Odisha, on the border with Andhra Pradesh. The district has a majority tribal population and is home to Dangaria Kandha, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), which lives on the Niyamgiri hills spread across Rayagada and the neighbouring Kalahandi district.