K’taka Governor, officials pay respects to Group Captain Varun Singh, mortal remains taken to Bhopal

Bengaluru: A service aircraft carrying the mortal remains of Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the IAF helicopter crash earlier this month that killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others, left for Bhopal from Air Force station Yelahanka here on Thursday.

A decorated air warrior, Group Captain Varun Singh died at the Air Force’s Command Hospital here on Wednesday, a week after he was seriously injured in the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

The mortal remains were moved this morning from the hospital to the Air Force station in Yelahanka, where wreaths were laid as a mark of respect to the departed by Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, military and government officials, and Singh’s family members.

Thereafter the body was flown from Yelahanka to Bhopal, where the funeral is planned on December 17.

Initially hospitalised at Wellington in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu with 80 per cent burns, Singh was shifted to the Command Hospital here on December 9 for higher treatment.

General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other defence personnel were killed on December 8, when the Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed.