The last rites of Air Force Group Captain Varun Singh will be held in Bhopal on Dec 17

Bhopal: The last rites of Group Captain Varun Singh, who died at a military hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday after surviving in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu, will take place in Bhopal on December 17, a senior district official said as the news of his death shocked the people of the Madhya Pradesh capital where his parents reside.

The decorated air warrior died in the hospital this morning, a week after he was seriously injured in the chopper crash near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, that killed CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 armed forces personnel, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said.

His last rites will be performed in Bhopal, where his parents reside. “Yes, we will come to Bhopal (for funeral),” his grieving father Colonel KP Singh (retd) told PTI over phone from Bengaluru. Asked about funeral plan, he said it will be known soon.

However, Bhopal collector Avinash Lavania said the mortal remains of Group Captain Singh will arrive here on Thursday by an IAF plane and his funeral will take place on December 17.

Friends and well-wishers of the family reached his residence here soon after getting news about the tragic demise of the IAF officer.

Group Captain Singh’s father was very optimistic about his surviving skills as he had earlier survived a life-threatening emergency while flying a Tejas aircraft during a sortie last year.

The air warrior 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 Group Captain was the lone survivor among the 14 people on board the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter that crashed Wednesday last.

The 39-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. The Group Captain’s family originally hails from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

He was admitted to a hospital in Wellington in Tamil Nadu with severe burn injuries on Wednesday last following the helicopter crash. A day later, he was shifted to the Command Hospital in Bengaluru.