Russian couple found dead in Himachal's Manikaran, naked bodies bore injury marks

Shimla/Kullu, Nov 17 (PTI) The naked bodies of a couple from Russia were found at a small pond near the holy town of Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district, police said on Friday.

The bodies found on Thursday bore some injury marks. Police said it appeared to be a case of suicide as the bodies were found 50 metres down the road and it was not possible to take someone forcibly to this spot as the terrain was difficult.

However, it did not rule out the possibility of murder.

Police said the man and the woman could not be immediately identified as the faces were swollen and later police checked the hotels, homestays and other accommodations to collect details about the deceased.

Naked bodies of the woman and the man were found inside a kund (hot spring pool) and outside the pool, respectively in Tagri on the banks of the Parvati river, about two kilometers from Manikaran on Thursday.

The deceased man and woman identified as Maksim Beletskii (37) and Anna Rantseva (21) were staying in a guest house since October 14 and according to the owner of the property, they rarely switched on the lights and used to light candles, ASP Sanjeev Chauhan told PTI.

The man bore cut marks on his hand and neck, while the woman had injury marks on her hand. Their injuries were not fatal and the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, he said.

A blade, a mobile phone, lighted candles, other belongings and drugs (charas) were also recovered from the spot, he further said.

Empty cigarettes, tobacco were found in the room and there was a note on the packet in which passport, mobile and other documents were kept. The small note written in English language said to send our belongings to the Russian embassy and mobile to family members.

The bodies were sent for postmortem to a regional hospital in Kullu, which referred it to the medical college, Mandi. Their faces were swollen and could not be recognised and the deceased are yet to be identified, police said. PTI

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