New Delhi: General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were cremated on Friday at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment with a large number of people including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paying tearful adieu to them. A 17-gun salute was accorded to them with 800 service personnel in attendance. 

Gen Rawat and Madhulika Rawat’s daughters Kritika and Tarini were also present. A few hours earlier the armed forces bid goodbye to his aide Brigadier LS Lidder.

General Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), along with his wife and 11 armed forces personnel died in an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

Amid chants of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘General Rawat Amar Rahe (Long Live General Rawat), the funeral procession of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat left his official residence with military personnel drawn from all the three services marched towards the streets as drummers played along in tribute to them.

As the mortal remains of General Rawat, carried in a casket wrapped in a tricolour, was moved to a gun carriage, decorated with flowers, people showered petals and raised slogans in his praise. The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife were kept at their official residence here before cremation, to allow people to pay respects. /BI/