COONOOR: India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other defence personnel were killed on Wednesday, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter they were in crashed at Katary near Coonoor in the Nilgiris.
The incident happened when Rawat was headed to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington to address faculty and student officers of the Staff Course. He was flying from the Air Force Station in Sulur, Coimbatore on the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter piloted by Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, commanding officer of the 109 helicopter unit at the Sulur air base.
