Two Drunk Russians and a Deadly Tribal Tour

It was Christmas Eve, 2022, when Pavel Antov plunged to his death from the terrace of a hotel in India. The body of the Russian sausage-tycoon-turned-parliamentarian was discovered by staff at the Hotel Sai International, a modest three-star hotel in the remote eastern-Indian town of Rayagada. 

Antov was neither the first nor last Russia-affiliated unfortunate to meet his end vis-a-vis the intersection of gravity and a tall building. His fatal fall is one of dozens of mysterious Russian deaths to have occurred since Putin's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Antov's death is, however, among the most unusual. For starters, what was this Russian tycoon doing at a seedy hotel in rural India? Antov was by all accounts an extremely wealthy man. A quick glance at the hotel’s TripAdvisor reveals several unappealing reviews, from “unpleasant odours” to “filthy” rooms. Another simply asks: “Under construction?”

Stranger still was that Antov’s death was not the first to occur at the Hotel Sai International that week. His demise on Dec. 24 followed that of his Russian business associate and travel companion, Vladimir Bidenov, just two days earlier. Bidenov, just 61 years old, had been sharing a second floor room with Antov when he died suddenly on the morning of Dec. 22.

The pair were part of a group of four Russian tourists making their way through eastern India along with their hired tour guide, Jitendra Singh. Along with Antov and Bidenov, local reports said Mikhail Turov and Natalia Pansasenko were taking an ‘Indian Tribal Tour’ through the north and eastern states to celebrate Antov’s upcoming 65th birthday.