'A Hero, My Best Friend': Family Bids Adieu to Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder
Visuals showed the brigadier's wife Geetika Lidder and daughter Aashna Lidder bidding their goodbyes to him.
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Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder, who was one of the 13 who died in the tragic helicopter crash of Wednesday, 8 December, was laid to rest on Friday at the Brar Square crematorium, Delhi Cantonment.
Visuals from ANI showed the brigadier's wife Geetika Lidder and daughter Aashna Lidder bidding their goodbyes to him, with the former kneeling next to the head of his coffin, with the tricolour draped around it.
"He was a good father. We must give him a good farewell... a smiling send-off. I am a soldier's wife. It's a big loss," Geetika Lidder told ANI.
The Brigadier's daughter also fought back tears when she put rose petals onto her father's coffin.
"I am going to be 17. So he was with me for 17 years... we will go ahead with happy memories. It's a national loss. My father was a hero, my best friend. Maybe it was destined and better things will come our way. He was my biggest motivator," Aashna Lidder said.
(Photo: PTI)
(Photo: PTI)
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also paid his tributes to Brigadier Lidder.
(Photo: PTI)
The mortal remains of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat have also been brought to their residence, and will be taken in a gun carriage for the funeral in Delhi Cantonment Brar Square around 4 pm.
Leaders like Rahul Gandhi and personnel of the Indian Armed Forces paid their last respects to the late general and his wife.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and National Security Advisory Ajit Doval paid their last respects to CDS Rawat and other armed forces personnel who died in the helicopter crash that occurred in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday, 8 December.
Meanwhile, preparations have begun for the last rites of Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, who was also one of the victims in the Coonoor chopper crash.
The funeral of Prithvi Singh Chauhan will be conducted on Saturday with full military honours in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
Yogi in Agra, Meets Kin of PS Chauhan
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrived in Agra to meet the kin of the late official on Thursday and said,
The CM added that the state government will give full assistance to the family of the soldier.
"The state government will provide a job to one of his family members and grant Rs 50 lakh. We will also name an institution after him," the CM said.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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