The last rites of Group Captain Varun Singh, who was the lone survivor of the IAF helicopter crash was performed in his hometown Bhopal. Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang also attended his funeral ceremony.
A ceremonial guard of honour was given to Group Captain Varun Singh by the defence forces personnel, after which senior services officers paid their tributes by laying floral wreaths on the coffin of the officer. Captain Singh's younger brother, a Lieutenant Commander in the Indian Navy and his son lit the funeral pyre.
A decorated IAF officer, Group Captain Varun Singh succumbed to his injuries at the Air Force's Command Hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Wrapped in a tricolour, the mortal remains were brought to the cremation ground in the Bairagarh area in Bhopal in a flower-bedecked Army truck. People were heard raising slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Group Captain Varun Singh Amar Rahe'.
The mortal remains of Group Captain Varun Singh was earlier airlifted to his hometown Bhopal by a service aircraft on Thursday soon after the Indian Air Force (IAF) military officials paid tributes to him. The braveheart fought for his life for one week after the helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others personnel.
Captain Singh was conferred with the Shaurya Chakra, India's third-highest peacetime gallantry award, in August this year for displaying exemplary composure and skill when his Tejas aircraft developed a technical snag during the sortie. The 42-year-old officer, who was known to be an excellent test pilot, is survived by an 11-year-old son, an eight-year-old daughter, and his wife.
