Chief of Defence Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat’s mortal remains will be cremated with full military honours at Brar Square crematorium in New Delhi on Friday.
The bodies of CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika have been kept at their official residence in New Delhi for now.
The bodies will be taken to the crematorium at around 2pm, reported NDTV.
Earlier today, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paid their last respects to the CDS Bipin Rawat, who was killed along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others in a Mi-17V5 Indian Air Force helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor.
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Also, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Harish Singh Rawat, BJP chief JP Nadda and DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi were among the others who paid their last respects to the CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat.
On Thursday Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar laid wreaths on the mortal remains of Brigadier Lidder—who is only the third person after CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika whose bodies have been positively identified among the 13 killed in the helicopter crash.
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The bodies were flown from Sulur air base to the Palam airport in New Delhi on Thursday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top officials of the defence services paid them tributes.
The lone survivor in the helicopter crash is Group Captain Varun Singh who has been shift to air force hospital in Bengaluru.
India's first CDS was appointed on January 1, 2020. CDS Rawat hailed from Uttarakhand’s Pauri. He was the fourth generation army man from his family. CDS Rawat's father Laxman Singh had also served in the Army, and had risen to become Lieutenant-General. CDS Rawat’s wife Madhulika Rawat had also been shouldering the responsibility of serving the nation.
Madhulika Rawat originally hailed from Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol. She was the daughter of late political leader Mrigendra Singh.She completed her education from Delhi University.
She was currently the president of Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA).
The NGO AWWA’s mainly looked into the welfare of wives, children and family of deceased army personnel, who laid their lives in the service of the nation. Before heading AWWA, Madhulika Rawat had been heading campaigns and other associations to help widows of army men and specially-abled children.
The couple is survived by two daughters.
