Businessman hires hitman to kill ex-lover’s new TV chef boyfriend: Bunglers kill wrong man
A WELL-known TV chef was left for dead after the ex-lover of his glamorous girlfriend ordered a contract hit on him, a court has been told
A businessman is wanted by police for allegedly ordering the death of TV chef Alexey Dyma
Bungling gangsters first killed the wrong man - his brother-in-law - but then went back and viciously attacked Russian television and social media cooking guru Alexey Dyma, 36, with a baseball bat and knife, leaving him unconscious and badly wounded.
Married Moscow businessman Vladislav Koshelev had refused to accept that his mistress Ekaterina Kuchina, 28, had left him for the celebrity chef, and at first offered the star around £40,000 to dump her, which he refused.
The shadowy and secretive Koshelev - twice her age - had previously showered her with gifts and even bought her a cottage outside the Russian capital, expensive jewellery, and a car according to evidence in the case.
Sergey Popkov was mistakenly killed by the hired thugs
The makeup artist refused to return to him, and declined to give back any of the gifts. Instead she moved in with Dyma, also the author of several books.
Her friend said: "Vladislav called Katya [Ekaterina] and asked her to coma back to him. Then he got in touch with Alexey.
"He suggested a few million roubles if he parted with Ekaterina, but Alexey refused."
Koshelev - the owner of a transportation company who is now on the run - paid a distant relative Igor Krasilnikov to find a hit squad to kill his rival, the court was told.
Ekaterina Kuchina left her ex-partner for the TV chef
He offered the four gangsters a million roubles - £14,000 - to kill the TV chef.
He suggested a few million roubles if he parted with Ekaterina, but Alexey refused
Koshelev insisted that Ekaterina must not be harmed in the attack.
Two of the contract killers named as brothers Ismagilov and Marat Khamidullin went to the flat and tasered the man who opened the door, and then stabbed him to death.
But they killed Sergey Popkov, 35, Dyma's brother-in-law, in front of his wife Alexandra and nine-month-old daughter.
Dyma was attacked with a baseball bat and stabbed
Four months later, Ilnur Ismagilov with a new accomplice returned to kill the cook, clubbing him with a baseball bat before stabbing him near the entrance of his apartment block.
They believed him to be dead, and fled.
Witnesses called an ambulance and medics saved his life.
The gangsters were reportedly offered a million roubles for the murder
“Now it became obvious for Ekaterina and Alexey that Vladislav Koshelev was behind both attacks," said Elena Popkova, mother of Sergey.
"Alexey was in hospital, in a grave condition, but they got married."
Dyma - left partially disabled by the attack - remembered the number of the car which the attackers had used to tail him.
Koshelev is on the run and is wanted by the police
All members of the hit squad were detained and are now in court facing charges including murder, reported Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Koshelev fled after the 2014 attack and is on the Russian police wanted list.
His picture has not been released.