Bhubaneswar, Jan 4 (IANS): The Odisha Police CID's Crime Branch has planned to conduct a dummy simulation exercise to ascertain the cause of death of Russian lawmaker Pavel Antov.

Antov was found dead in mysterious circumstances in a hotel in Odisha's Rayagada town on December 24, two days after his friend Vladimir Bidenov was found dead in his room in the same hotel.

According to official sources, the Crime Branch is contemplating to re-create the circumstances leading to Antov's death.

To study the fall pattern, the sleuths pecifically plan to conduct a simulation exercise of a dummy falling from the rooftop in similar circumstances. For this, a dummy of the same weight, and height as the deceased will be created with the help of the AIIMS Anatomy Department and forensic experts, the sources said.

In this regard, the CID has contacted Dr Rajendra Dangi, former Director of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) of the CBI and Dr T.D. Dogra of AIIMS, Delhi who are the leading experts in dummy fall simulation exercise.

The two senior experts, who have been involved in resolving several complicated cases of the CBI, will ascertain the cause, nature, and manner of the incident and injuries on the body of Antov and crosscheck it with the post-mortem report. This is expected to help the Crime Branch team reach a definite conclusion, they said.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch team camping at Rayagada are continuing with their inquiry into the deaths of the Russian duo. They are quizzing the hotel staff and examining the exhibits seized by Rayagada police. The seized gazettes and other items will be sent to forensic experts for further examination.