Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were cremated with full military honours at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi on Friday. The last rites were performed by their daughters, Kritika and Tarini.The bodies of General Rawat and his wife had been laid side by side on the same pyre.
The bodies of General Rawat and his wife had been laid side by side on the same pyre. A total of 800 service personnel were in attendance for the military funeral of General Rawat at the crematorium. Before the final rites were performed, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had paid his tribute at the crematorium. A ceremonial battery of 2233 Field Regiment provided the gun carriage.Decked with flowers, and accompanied by dozens of civilians shouting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and waving the national flag, the gun carriage carrying the bodies drove slowly through the city before reaching Delhi Cantonment.
General Rawat’s mortal remains were laid to state on Friday morning at 3, Kamraj Marg, and were there from 11 am till 1.30 pm to enable people to pay their homage. Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were among several leaders to lay wreaths and pay respect to General Rawat and his wife at their official residence in Delhi this morning before cremation. The funeral of Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder, defence assistant to General Rawat and another victim of the chopper crash, was held at Delhi Cantonment earlier in the day.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night led tributes to all those who were killed in the chopper crash.Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh military commanders also attended Bipin Rawat’s last rites.
Must give him a smiling send-off: Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder’s wife
The wife and daughter of Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder on Friday paid a tearful farewell to the officer, who was killed in the military helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor along with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and 12 others. Aashna Lidder, who was by her mother’s side, was seen fighting back tears as she said her final goodbyes to her father.“I am going to be 17. So he was with me for 17 years, we will go ahead with happy memories… It’s a national loss. My father was a hero, my best friend…” she said after the last rites. The three service chiefs—Indian Army chief General MM Naravane, Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari—too paid their tributes to Brig Lidder.The army has said the mortal remains of only three of the Coonoor chopper crash victims—General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and Brigadier Lidder—have been positively identified so far.
