The Indian Air Force on Friday announced that it has constituted a tri-service Court of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the military chopper crash which claimed the lives of 13 people including Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat.
The IAF has appealed to avoid speculations around the chopper crash that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat and 12 others in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Taking to Twitter, IAF said: "IAF has constituted a tri-service Court of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the tragic helicopter accident on 8 Dec. The inquiry would be completed expeditiously & facts brought out. Till then, to respect the dignity of the deceased, uninformed speculation may be avoided."
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has started investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 12 others.
Briefing both houses of Parliament on the crash, Singh said that all efforts were being made to save IAF Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, who was on life support at the military hospital in Wellington.
"A tri-services inquiry headed by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has been ordered by the Indian Air Force. A team of investigators had reached Wellington yesterday (Wednesday) itself and started their work," Singh said.
Gen Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed forces personnel died when the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed.
As India's first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Rawat was tasked to bring in theatre command and jointness among the three services, and he was pushing it with a tough approach and specific timelines in the last two years.
Known to be forthright, fearless, and blunt at times, the 63-year-old strongly backed a policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross-border terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir when he was the Army Chief between 2016 and 2019.
(With inputs from PTI)
