17-gun salute for CDS Gen Bipin Rawat as daughters perform last-rites
CDS Gen Bipin Rawat was cremated with full military honours including a 17-gun salute by the military.
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New Delhi, Dec 11: The final rites of India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were performed by laying them side by side for cremation at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday. Their daughters Kritika and Tarini lit the pyre.
General Rawat was killed along with his wife Madhulika and 11 other military personnel in a chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu’s Niligiris district on Wednesday. CDS Rawat was cremated with full military honours including a 17-gun salute by the military.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy, defence attaches of various countries, Ambassador of France in India Emmanuel Lenain and British High Commissioner Alex Ellis, were among the dignitaries who were present at the crematorium to pay their last respect. Besides, about 800 service personnel took part in the cremation ceremony.
Their mortal remains were brought from their residence in a gun carriage decked with flowers with hundreds of mourners joining the funeral procession as it proceeded towards the crematorium. Citizens were seen chanting "jab tak suraj chaand rahega, Bipin ji ka naam rahega". The bodies were kept at the residence till 2pm for people to pay their last rites.
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Other defence forces personnel who died in the chopper crash are CDS Rawat's 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.
Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor in the crash, has been shifted to Air Force Command hospital at Bengaluru for further treatment. 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.