Deputy Russian prosecutor-general Saak Karapetyan died on Wednesday when his AS-350 came down in bad weather on a hunting trip 365 miles northeast of Moscow.
The law chief has been linked to Moscow's alleged offers of "dirt" on Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump's election campaign, among other intelligence damaging leaks to the West.
Karapetyan was in charge of high-profile Russian criminal probes into three major episodes in Britain – the poisoning of Sergei Skripal this year, the unexplained death of Putin foe Boris Berezovsky in 2013, and the polonium murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The shooting allegation, made by respected Moscow journalist Sergei Dorenko, is expected to increase speculation that the leading prosecutor was assassinated.
Official records state the "overloaded" helicopter crashed after clipping trees in the Kostroma region, killing Karapetyan, his nephew Areg Arutyunyan, 47, pilot Stanislav Mikhnov, and another passenger Viktor Kopteev, 54.
But Dorenko bluntly accused investigating authorities of a cover-up, alleging they hid details of two bullet wounds to highly experience 54-year old pilot as well as gun shot damage to the chopper's blade.
The claimed was aired on Dorenko's Govorit Moskva radio station and was promptly denied by the Investigative Committee (IC) – in charge of serious crime.
Dorenko retorted: “We have the official version that the pilot mistakenly touched the trees and the helicopter fell to the ground.
“But in fact I suppose that the pilot was good and did not touch any trees.
“He did not take off at all.
“He was shot with two bullets in the back before this.”
He continued:“The IC decided that there were no gunshots…
“So two 5.45 calibre bullets one of which broke through the pilot's blade are not to be considered. Why?”
He insisted: “There are two 5.45 bullets in the pilot…. the blade is also pierced.”
Replying to the claims, however, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said: “The information is not true.
“None of those killed in the crash has any gunshot wounds.”
Karapetyan's death came just hours before the Dutch authorities thwarted a Russian GRU spy unit trying to hack into the watchdog probing the Salisbury poisoning.
The law chief was a vitriolic critic of Britain over the Sergei Skripal case and other disputes.
Anonymous 'Kremlin insider' blogger nicknamed Nezygar Telegram claimed “his death will resolve a number of very painful issues” and “it will stop leaks of highly confidential information to the West”.
His death would prevent attacks in the West on Putin’s security council chief Nikolai Patrushev, alleged Nezygar.
The blogger is one of several who have recently sprung up in Russia claiming to have access to inside information into the workings of the Russian state.
According to a Russian ministry of emergencies source quoted by the Tass news agency, the burned wreckage of the helicopter was found near the village of Vonyshevo.
"The debris of the crashed helicopter have been found. Three people died in that crash. Their bodies were also found at the crash site,” the source said.
The helicopter’s pilot Stanislav Mikhnov, 54, was described as highly experienced.
Karapetyan was born in the in Rostov region and got his degree in law in Rostov State University.
He was a prosecutor who became an MP and was deputy chairman of the Duma's committee for security.
Karapetyan reportedly had close links to the controversial Natalia Veselnitskaya, 43, a Russian lawyer seen as Moscow's go-between with the Trump campaign on alleged Clinton “dirt” garnered by Russian secret services.
She met with Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.
He also claimed that Litvinenko, the former KGB and FSB officer who died of polonium poisoning in London in 2006, may have been killed by Boris Berezovsky, his associate.
Berezovsky, the tycoon who fled to London and died aged 67 in mysterious circumstances in 2013.
Mr Karapetyan said Britain had “refused any cooperation with Russia and kept secret the result of their own inquiry” in the case of both men and Mr Skripal.
”The British authorities have based the anti-Russian campaign surrounding the poisoning of former GRU officer Skripal and his daughter on a provocative scenario.
“A similar scenario was used in baseless allegations of Russia's attempt on the life of Boris Berezovsky in London in summer 2003 and the circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander Litvinenko in the UK in November 2006.
"I should say that the targets of those three provocations were persons charged with grave felonies in Russia who repeatedly made statements criticising the Russian authorities.
“A false motive for their physical liquidation was thus created.”
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