Bipin Rawat’s demise: Virat Kohli leads cricket fraternity in paying tribute to CDS General

The Cricket fraternity paid heartfelt condolences on the demise of CDS General Bipin Rawat who died this morning after a military helicopter carrying him crashed in Tamil Nadu.

The Indian Air Force on Wednesday (December 8) informed that General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other persons on board the Mi-17 V5 helicopter were killed after the helicopter crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

The helicopter crashed around noon shortly after it took off from the Air Force base in Sulur, Coimbatore, for Wellington in the Nilgiri Hills. The General was heading to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course today.

Meanwhile, current and former Team India cricketers like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, and many others took to Twitter to pay tribute to CDS General Bipin Rawat.

Deeply saddened by the untimely demise of CDS Bipin Rawat ji and other officials in a tragic helicopter crash. My deepest condolences to the friends & family members. 

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 8, 2021

Extremely pained to hear about the passing away of Shri #BipinRawat , his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 army personnel in the tragic helicopter crash. Gratitude for his wonderful service to the nation. Om Shanti  pic.twitter.com/XoCK64Q9wg — Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) December 8, 2021

There are some men who feel like ones from our family. Our security forces feel like family and feel extremely pained to hear about the demise of Gen #BipinRawat and his wife in the tragic helicopter crash. May Parmatma give Sadgati to the bravehearts who lost their lives. pic.twitter.com/IBrfhkqKeL — Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) December 8, 2021

Deeply saddened by the tragic and untimely demise of Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife Mrs. Madhulika Rawat and 11 other personnel of our armed forces. My deepest condolences to their families and well-wishers  — Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) December 8, 2021

CDS Bipin Rawat's passing is a big loss to the nation. In this moment of grief I offer my condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in this unfortunate tragedy and praying for the speedy recovery of Gp Capt Varun Singh  — Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) December 8, 2021

Very sad news & Deeply saddened to hear about the BipinRawat and his wife in a helicopter crash. The nation will always be grateful to Sir Bipin Rawat & his wife Madhulika Rawat & 11 more soldiers. Rest in Peace #Bipin_Rawat #BipinRawatHelicopterCrash pic.twitter.com/mDM6LoPNxB — Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) December 8, 2021

A veteran of counterinsurgency warfare, CDS Rawat served in the most difficult terrains including northern and eastern commands.

CDS Rawat was commissioned into the Indian Army in December 1978. He previously served as Chief of the Army Staff from January 2017 to December 2019.

Notably, Rawat was the first Chief of Defence Staff of India. As the CDS, the officer from Pauri Garhwal who commanded the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles unit, became a four-star General.