Warrants Sought for 2 in Death of Shah’s Aide

State investigators Wednesday asked the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco for a federal fugitive warrant for the arrest of two men charged with the kidnaping and murder of a prominent Iranian refugee whose body was found buried in a remote area near Los Angeles.

Named in the warrant request are Reza Eslamania of Los Angeles and Arben Dosti of Belmont, in the San Francisco Bay Area, both in their early 20s. They were charged last month with murder and kidnaping in the death of Eslamania’s father, Hedayat Eslamania, 56, also of Belmont.

The elder Eslamania, a high-ranking official of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s regime, vanished after signing over money from his Swiss bank account to his son and three other men in an apparent extortion attempt, investigators say. His skeletal remains were found buried in a desert grave near Soledad in the Angeles National Forest.

The federal warrant, which is expected to be returned in a few days, will enable state investigators to ask the FBI and Interpol to track down the two fugitives, who were last seen in London and now are thought to be somewhere in Europe, Ron Bass, a San Francisco-based deputy state attorney general, said.

Also charged in the kidnaping and murder are Joe Hunt, 24, and James Pittman, 31, both of Los Angeles. They also face murder and robbery charges in the disappearance and presumed murder of free-lance journalist Ronald G. Levin, 42. He vanished last June 21, after he was arrested by Beverly Hills police for allegedly stealing $1 million worth of video equipment.

Last month, an associate of the four men, Dean Karny, told investigators where the elder Eslamania’s body could be found--a rugged desert area near Indian Creek Canyon, south of Soledad Canyon Road.

Hearing Delayed

“The remains were found in the precise spot where the information said they would be found,” said Oscar Breiling of the state attorney general’s special prosecutions office.

This week, Karny testified in Beverly Hills Municipal Court at the preliminary hearing for Pittman in the Levin case. Karny said Hunt had told him that Hunt and Pittman had murdered Levin and buried his body in the desert. Levin’s body has not been found.

Hunt’s preliminary hearing has been delayed until next month.

Pittman, Hunt and Karny were associated in BBC Consolidated of North America., a Beverly Hills firm that investigators suspect was a type of fraud scheme that ran out of funds. The operation is currently being investigated by federal authorities.

Hunt, the alleged ringleader of the operation, and his associates reportedly attempted to force Levin to withdraw $1.5 million from a Swiss account, but the check bounced, according to court documents and investigators.