Last rites of Brigadier Lidder performed with full military honours

An IAF chopper crash near Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday claimed the lives of 13 people including CDS Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat.

New Delhi: The last rites of Defence Adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder, who was among the 13 people who died in the military helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor, were performed with full military honours at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday.

An IAF chopper crash near Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor on Wednesday claimed the lives of 13 people including CDS Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat.

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present at the last rites of the Brigadier Lidder.

Wife and daughter of the defence advisor of the CDS broke down while paying their last respects to him.

Mournful visuals showed Brigadier’s wife in tears kneeling by the head of her husband’s coffin, which was draped with the national flag and decked with flowers.

Brigadier’s daughter was by her mother’s side, fighting back tears of her own while paying her last respects to her father.

The three service chiefs – Army Chief General MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari too paid their tribute to Brig LS Lidder.

Meanwhile, CDS General Rawat will be cremated later in the day today with full military honours.

The Army said the mortal remains of only three persons — General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and Brigadier Lidder — had been positively identified so far.

Other 10 defence forces personnel who died in the chopper crash are 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.

The bodies of the victims were flown from Sulur near Coimbatore to the Palam airbase Thursday evening in caskets wrapped in the Tricolour.

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.

According to the sources, the black box of the chopper has been recovered from the crash site.

A team of Tamil Nadu’s Forensic Science Department also visited the crash site.