THE Kremlin has been accused of covering up the death of a sacked Russian minister after signs of torture were allegedly found on his body just 24 hours before his apparent suicide.

Roman Starovoit, who was Vladimir Putin’s transport minister for less than a year, was dismissed from his post on July 7 – just hours before he was found dead,

Telegram channels with links to the Russian security forces reported Starovoit’s cause of death as suicide – claiming the minister was found dead with gunshot wounds.

However, an independent Russian media outlet now reports that he had been beaten before his death.

News outlet SOTA claims that signs of torture were visible on his body.

“Fresh traces of beatings were found on the body of former Kursk governor and ex-Transport Minister Roman Starovoit,” stated the outlet.

“This was reported to Sota by a source who saw Starovoit’s body in the morgue.

“According to the same source, the medical report indicates that the death occurred earlier than officially announced.”

A source told the Russian news outlet that there was “roughly a 24-hour time difference”.

If true, it would mean Starovoit was fired after his death.

Doubts over his apparent suicide emerged after versions of Starovoit’s death from official sources were kept changing.

Initial reports claimed his body had been found at his home.

Russian cops then said Starovoit’s body was found having shot himself inside his black Tesla.

This changed to the corpse being in his Tesla Model X P100D, an account published by the Russian Investigative Committee, which is in charge of the probe into his death.

In fact this was wrong and media accounts established that the body was found in bushes a few yards from his car near the village of Romashkovo in the Odintsovo district, Moscow region.

Press reports and photos clearly showed a body being removed from long grass near the electric car.

The minister’s tearful girlfriend and assistant, Polina Korneeva, 25, a medical graduate, was brought to the scene by law enforcement to identify the corpse before being driven away in his official Aurus limousine.

On the same day, Andrey Korneichuk, deputy head of the Russian Federal Road Agency’s Property Management Department, died at the Transportation Ministry’s Moscow headquarters.

According to Telegram channels with close ties to Russian law enforcement, the 42-year-old official died in his office.

He is said to have stood up suddenly, collapsed to the floor, and died.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Russian state media reported that Korneichuk died at his workplace, possibly from “acute heart failure”.

Korneichuk reportedly died after news broke that Starovoit had been sacked from his post.

There is no indication the deaths are linked.

Starovoit’s passing is the latest in a string of suspicious deaths of Russian officials, oligarchs and insiders since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began.

Many have died in reported suicides, falls from windows or under mysterious circumstances, fuelling speculation about growing instability behind the Kremlin’s walls.