Top scientist behind Russia's Sputnik V Covid vaccine 'strangled to death with a belt
Moscow, Mar 4: Andrey Botikov, one of the scientists who helped to create the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, was strangled to death with a belt at his apartment here and police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder, according to a Russian media report on Saturday.
Botikov, 47, who worked as a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Ecology and Mathematics, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday, Russian News Agency TASS quoted the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin honoured the virologist with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland award for his work on the COVID vaccine in 2021. Botikov was one of 18 scientists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine in 2020, according to reports.
His death is being investigated as a murder, the committee, which is the investigating authority in Russia, said in a Telegram statement.
According to investigators, a 29-year-old young man strangled Botikov with a belt during an argument and fled. Law enforcement agencies said the murder was a domestic crime and the result of a conflict, the report said.
The suspect was arrested shortly after Botikov's body was found, the federal investigative agency said in the statement.
"The location of the attacker was established in short order. During the interrogation, he pled guilty and was charged. The defendant has a previous criminal record, as he stood trial on charges of committing a serious crime. In the near future, the investigation plans to petition the court to place the defendant in custody pending trial," the Investigative Committee said.
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ED team attacked in Delhi during raids in cyber crime case
New Delhi (PTI): An Enforcement Directorate team undertaking searches in a cyber fraud linked money laundering case was allegedly attacked here on Thursday, officials said.
The agency has registered a police FIR about the incident that took place at a farmhouse that was raided by ED officials in the Bijwasan area of the national capital that falls under the Kapashera police station in southwest Delhi.
An Enforcement Officer (EO) suffered minor injuries during the attack. He is continuing with the searches after he was given first aid, officials said.
The probe pertains to a case against the PYYPL app.
The alleged accused in the case, including Ashok Sharma and his brother, allegedly attacked the ED team. The situation is under control and searches are going on, the sources said.
The search operations, according to sources, has been launched after the ED got inputs from the I4C and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) about cyber crimes like phishing, QR code cheating, part time job fraud leading to fraud with many people.
It was found that money earned through this cyber fraud was being layered through as many as 15,000 'mule' accounts and withdrawn using debit and credit cards.
Using these cards, it was found, money was remitted to top up virtual accounts on UAE-based Pyypl payment aggregator and subsequently funds were used from Pyypl to buy crypto currency.
The network was being run by some Chartered Accountants (CAs), the sources claimed.
