PM Modi pays homage to Gen Rawat, his wife, others at IAF station in Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid homage to late Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other military personnel after their mortal remains reached the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Palam in New Delhi on Thursday.

Modi and Singh were joined by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Indian Army chief Gen M M Naravane, Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari to pay tribute to the departed souls.

Gen Rawat, his wife and others died when an Indian Air Force chopper they were flying in crashed at Conoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

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A C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the IAF brought the 13 coffins from Sulur in Tamil Nadu to New Delhi. After the aircraft landed around 7:35 p.m., the military officials carried the caskets to a hanger, where they were linked up. The members of the families of Gen Rawat and other deceased military personnel were present.

The Prime Minister placed wreaths on the caskets. So did the Defence Minister and others.

The moral remains of only three of the 13 were positively identified till Thursday – Gen Rawat and his wife, Madhulika Rawat and Brigadier L S Lidder. The bodies of the others would be preserved at the mortuary at the Army Base Hospital and would be released to the families of the deceased only after positive identification.

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The mortal remains of Gen Rawat and his wife, Madhulika Rawat, would be kept at the official residence of the late CDS at Kamraj Marg in New Delhi from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday for civil and military dignitaries as well as common people to pay tribute.

A funeral procession from the Kamraj Marg will start at 2 p.m. and the mortal remains of the couples would be consigned to flames at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment at 4 p.m. The funeral of Brigadier Lidder would be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, official sources said.

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