NEW DELHI, Dec 31: The “missing” Russian national who the Odisha police was looking for after the recent alleged mysterious deaths of two of his compatriots, including a Russian lawmaker, has been located on Saturday.
Andrew Glagolev, a self-proclaimed anti-Ukraine war activist, was located in a market area near Bhubaneswar railway station and he is now in the custody of the Government Railway Police (GRP), an official said.
His visa has expired and he had applied to the UN for asylum in India, Bhubaneswar GRP in-charge Jaydev Biswajit said. The one thing common between the deceased Russian lawmaker Pavel Antov and Glagolev, was that both are critics of Russian president Vladimir Putin and were opposed to the Ukraine war.
Glagolev, who used to stay in Puri, was sighted earlier on in Odisha’s capital holding placards with anti-war and anti-Putin slogans, seeking financial assistance. About a month ago, the man was seen in the Bhubaneswar railway station holding a placard that read: “I am Russian Refugee, I am against War, I am against Putin, I am Homeless, Please Help me.”
The photo of the man holding that placard, clicked by some passenger, has gone viral after the death of his compatriots – lawmaker and businessman Pavel Antov and his fellow traveller Vladimir Bidenov – in a hotel in Rayagada district.
“Today we detained him for the purpose of enquiry. His documents are being verified. Officers concerned are checking if he is authorised to stay in India. His visa has expired. A decision will be taken later on what to do with him,” the GRP officer said. Glegalev, who hails from Moscow, is in India since 2016.
“He has sought asylum in India through the UN in 2017. He has no source of income in India and asks for financial help from random people. He said he got more help from Indians than he had anticipated,” Biswajit said.
When he was spotted at the railway station a month ago, the GRP had questioned him. “The police had no cause to suspect any wrong-doing linked to his disappearance at that time, as the Rayagada incident happened thereafter,” a senior railway police official said.
Pavel Antov and his fellow traveller Vladimir Bidenov, the lawmaker and businessman respectively, died in a hotel in Rayagada district. Antov died after allegedly falling from the hotel’s third floor on December 24 while Bidenov was found dead in his room on December 22. The two deceased Russians were cremated and the CID is investigating their deaths.
(Manas Dasgupta)