Putin critic Anto's autopsy was not videographer: Crime branch.
Bhubaneswar: Facing severe criticism for shoddy investigation and not preserving the visceral remains of dead Putin critic Russian Pavel Anton, the role of the Odisha police came under the scanner on Monday aga- in after the crime branch said the Russian lawmaker's process was neither video graphed nor photographed.
Interestingly, videography and photography were conducted during the autopsy of Pavel's EcoTraveler Vladimir Budanov, who died of suspected heart attack in the hotel on December 22, two days before the rich law- maker's death after a fatal fall from the three-storied hotel's terrace.
"Unlike Pavel's death, the demise of Vladimir did appear mysterious. Still, the police videographer his post-mortem and preserved his visceral samples," said a former cop. "We did not receive any instructions from the local Raygada district police to go for videography of Pavel's autopsy and preserve his viscera. Videography and visceral sample preservation were done in case of Bedrooms post-mortem examination following specific instructions by the local police," a doctor of Raygada hospital, where the post-mortem of the two Russians was conducted, said.
Odisha crime branch, in which recently took over the investigation from Raygada police, admitted Pavel's post-mortem was not video graphed. "It is not mandatory to film every postmortem. In such a sensitive case, involving a foreign national (especially after the first death of the Russian), the local police should have insisted doctors to go for videography of the autopsy to ensure transparency," a crime branch official said.
Odisha police headquarters said videography and photography are mandatory during post-mortem in custodial deaths (either in police station or judicial custody)