Gen Bipin Rawat Chopper Crash Live Updates: Lone survivor IAF Group Captain Varun Singh shifted to Bengaluru Command Hospital

The lone survivor among the 14 on board the Mi-17 V5 chopper that crashed on Wednesday, Group Captain Varun Singh, had dodged death just months before while on duty. Now battling for life in the military hospital at Wellington in Tamil Nadu, the IAF officer had survived a life-threatening emergency while flying the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft in October last year.

Whether one agreed or disagreed with him, one could never ignore India’s top military officer, General Bipin Rawat. He himself made it very clear that as the country’s first-ever CDS, his mandate was to push ‘jointness and integration’ among the Army, Navy and IAF despite stiff resistance, while also weaning the forces off their overwhelming dependence on expensive foreign weapon systems.