CDS General Bipin Rawat laid to rest with full military honours, 17-gun salute
New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was laid to final rest with full military honours on Friday. His last rites were performed along with his wife Madhulika Rawat, who too lost her life in the Tamil Nadu IAF chopper crash.
Their daughters Kritika and Tarini performed the last rites. Earlier, huge crowds of mourners gathered outside as armed forces personnel took the mortal remains of General Bipin Rawat and his wife inside the Brar Square crematorium in the Delhi Cantonment. The moral remains of the Chief of Defence Staff were accorded a 17-gun salute.
The buglers played the Last Post and Rouse. The funeral pyre was lit by General Rawat’s daughters. Also read | Farmers call off 15-month-long protest, to start vacating Delhi borders CDS General Rawat, his wife and 11 other personnel lost their lives in an IAF chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8. The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were brought in a gun carriage decked with flowers to the Brar Square crematorium for performing the last rites. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"]Delhi: #CDSGeneralBipinRawat laid to final rest with full military honours. His last rites were performed along with his wife Madhulika Rawat, who too lost her life in #TamilNaduChopperCrash. Their daughters Kritika and Tarini performed their last rites. pic.twitter.com/ijQbEx9m51 — ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2021
General Rawat, his wife, and 11 other defence personnel were killed when a Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.[/caption]
Several people joined the funeral procession as it preceded towards the crematorium.
While the cortege of the CDS preceded towards Brar Square crematorium, the citizens were seen chanting "Jab tak suraj chaand rahega, Bipin ji ka naam rahega".
Meanwhile, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mansukh Mandaviya, Smriti Irani, Narendra Singh Tomar and Sarbananda Sonowal had, earlier in the day, reached the residence of General Bipin Rawat to pay their last respects.
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Several political leaders such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Harish Singh Rawat, BJP chief JP Nadda and DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi, among others, laid a wreath on the mortal remains of the CDS and his wife.
The Army said the mortal remains of only three persons -- General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and Brigadier Lidder -- had been positively identified so far.
Brigadier Lidder was cremated earlier in the day.
Other 10 defence forces personnel who died in the chopper crash are Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Havildar Satpal Rai, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik B. Sai Teja.
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Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor in the crash, has been shifted to Air Force Command hospital at Bengaluru for further treatment.
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The Centre has ordered a 'tri service' inquiry into the accident. The inquiry will be headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command.
According to the sources, the black box of the chopper has been recovered from the crash site. A team of Tamil Nadu's Forensic Science Department also visited the IAF chopper crash site.
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General Bipin Rawat's last rites were performed along with his wife Madhulika Rawat, who too lost her life in the Tamil Nadu IAF chopper crash. Photo: Social media[/caption]
-PTC News
