Tributes paid to General Bipin Rawat, last rites to be performed with full military honours

New Delhi: Tributes were paid to Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat by political leaders and military officials.

Top political leaders made a beeline to pay tributes to the first Chief of Defence Staff, as his mortal remains were kept at the CDS' residence at Kamraj Marg in Delhi.

Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to General Rawat. Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Harish Singh Rawat, BJP chief JP Nadda, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad and DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi, were also there.

The mortal remains would be taken to Brar Square Cremation Ground for the last rites in a gun carriage of 2233 Field Regiment. Ninety-nine personnel from all ranks from the Army, Navy and Air force, apart from 33 members of Tri-services band will form the front escort, while 99 personnel from all ranks from the three Services will act as the Rear Escort in the last journey.

A total of 800 service personnel will be in attendance for the military funeral of the CDS.

A 17-gun salute would be accorded as per protocols. Post the playing of the Last Post and Rouse by Tri-services buglers, the funeral pyre will be lit by family members, Defence sources said.

Highly-decorated India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other military personnel were on Wednesday killed in a helicopter crash here in Tamil Nadu, sending a wave of sorrow across the country.

Group Captain Varun Singh, pilot of the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF), was the lone survivor in the crash that took place in Coonoor valley at around noon, when Gen Rawat was on his way to Wellington to deliver a lecture. Captain Singh has been moved to Command Hospital, Bangalore, in critical condition. (UNI)