india

Updated: Sep 28, 2019 14:21 IST

Lt Col Rajneesh Parmar, who died in a helicopter crash in eastern Bhutan on Friday on his birthday, had promised to speak to his father in the evening and those were his last words to him.

“It was his birthday yesterday, we had called him in the morning but he was busy, he just said ‘Thanks Papa, I will speak to you in the evening’, said his father Mukhtyar Singh who retired as a Junior Warrant Officer of the Indian Air Force.

The 43-year-old army officer was a native of Nanao village in Sulah area of Kangra district and his family lives at Maranda near Palampur. He had joined the Indian Military Academy in 2000.

The Army helicopter crashed near Yonphulla in Bhutan, defence sources said. The incident took place around 1pm. Army sources said the helicopter had taken off from Khirmu in Arunachal Pradesh and was headed towards Yonphulla with two pilots on board. A captain of the Royal Bhutan Army also got killed in the crash.

The officer is survived by his wife Reena Parmar and 12-year-old son Yaduvansh Parmar, and they are staying at Bikaner in Rajasthan. “He was an intelligent boy who always wanted to serve the nation,” said his father Mukhtyar Singh.