VR Chaudhari, Air Chief Marshal, inspects the accident scene in Coonoor

Along with state DGP C Sylendra Babu, the IAF head arrived at the crash site in Coonoor in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district. On Wednesday afternoon, General Rawat's chopper crashed in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, on his way from Sulur to Wellington.

The IAF commander, according to sources, visited Sulur Airbase on Wednesday, where the helicopter took off. General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 others on board the IAF Mi-17V5 chopper were killed, according to the IAF. When his chopper crashed, General Rawat, India's first CDS, was on his way to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to address the professors and student officers of the Staff Course.

The IAF has launched an investigation into the incident. On December 31, 2019, General Rawat was named India's first Chief of Defense Staff. From January 2017 to December 2019, he was the Chief of the Army Staff. In December 1978, he was commissioned into the Indian Army.