The son of a State Duma deputy with the Communist Party was detained on suspicion of stabbing his business partner to death last month and has admitted his guilt, an Investigative Committee representative told Interfax on Wednesday.
Daniil Ostanin, 28, was detained in late November but the incident was not reported until this week, the unidentified representative said. Ostanin was placed in custody and is currently undergoing psychological and other checks, he said.
The body of the victim, Mikhail Milshtein, 34, was found in his apartment in northwestern Moscow on Nov. 25. Both he and Ostanin were shareholders in Cheremshansky surface coal mine, the biggest of its kind in the Kemerovo region.
The Investigative Committee did not say what prompted the attack on Milshtein, but a law enforcement source told Lifenews.ru that amphetamine was found in Milshtein's apartment and that investigators suspect Milshtein had misspent investment funds received from Ostanin on drugs.
Ostanin's mother, Nina, the head of Kemerovo region branch of the Communist Party and an outspoken critic of local Governor Aman Tuleyev, told Gazeta.ru on Tuesday that she doubted her son's involvement in the killing. She was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
The investigation is ongoing. If charged and convicted of murder, Ostanin faces up to 15 years in prison.
