Our Correspondent
Palampur, September 28

The mortal remains of Lieutenant-Colonel Rajneesh Parmar of the Army Aviation Corps, who died in a copter crash in Bhutan, could not reach here till this afternoon.

Official sources said because of certain formalities at the Army headquarters, the arrival of the body of Col Parmar was delayed. It is likely to reach late today and the cremation will take place tomorrow morning. Col Parmar was imparting training to pilots of the Bhutanese army.

Ved Parmar, his uncle, expressed disappointment over the delay in replacing the obsolete helicopters. “We will appeal to the government to replace these. My nephew will never come back, but the lives of others can be saved with the introduction of new choppers,” said he. It was his birthday yesterday. His father called him up in the morning but he was busy. He just said, “Thanks Papa, I will speak to you in the evening,” said the father of Rajneesh.

His father said 42-year-old Rajneesh had left behind his wife and a 12-year-old child, who studies in Army school at Bikaner. Rajneesh lost his life when an Army chopper ‘Cheetah’ crashed near Yongphulla in Bhutan.