Parents of a decorated army hero are taking a strenuous 2,000-km journey to perform their son’s last rites after bureaucratic hurdles denied them a flight in a military aircraft. The family is currently driving down from Gurugram to Bengaluru.

Colonel Navjot Singh Bal, a Shaurya Chakra awardee and former commanding officer of 2 Para Regiment (Special Forces) lost his life to cancer in Bengaluru on 9 April.

According to reports, when the family approached the government they were told that the requests made for a military aircraft to transport them did not materialise as the required orders for the Indian Air Force to fly his parents were not issued.