Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Harish Singh Rawat, BJP chief JP Nadda and DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi and many other leaders paid tributes to the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat at their residence at 3, Kamraj Marge in Delhi on Friday.
The country’s senior-most military officer, General Rawat, was killed along with his wife and 11others in an Indian Air Force helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. He will be cremated with full military honours at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment at 4 pm today .
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar laid wreaths on the mortal remains of Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder, defence assistant to Gen Rawat, the only other person to have been positively identified soon after the chopper crash besides Gen Rawat and his wife.
The funeral of Brig Lidder and another victim of the chopper crash was held at Delhi Cantonment’s Brar Square crematorium with full military honours today.
Brig Lidder is survived by his wife and daughter. Fondly called ‘Tony’, Lidder was a second-generation Army officer and had his roots in Haryana’s Panchkula, near Chandigarh.
The bodies of all 13 victims were flown from Sulur near Coimbatore to the Palam airbase Thursday evening, where their family members watched as caskets were brought out of an IAF aircraft and lined inside a hangar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met their family members, led the nation in paying tributes by placing a wreath and offering petals before each of the 13 caskets.