IAF Group Captain Varun Singh's father, Colonel KP Singh (Retd.), was an Army personnel from the regiment of Army Air Defence (AAD). His brother, Lieutenant Commander Tanuj Singh, is an officer in the Indian Navy

Gallantry award winner Group Captain Varun Singh, the sole survivor of the IAF helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday, comes from a family of defence personnel spanning across the three services.

While Group Captain Varun Singh is from the Indian Air Force (IAF), his father, Colonel (retd.) KP Singh, was an Army personnel from the regiment of Army Air Defence (AAD). Colonel KP Singh’s son and Group Captain Varun Singh’s brother, Lieutenant Commander Tanuj Singh, is an officer in the Indian Navy.

Group Captain Varun Singh is a recipient of the Shaurya Chakra which he was conferred on Independence Day earlier this year. He was earlier a test pilot with the IAF in Bangalore. The officer had saved his Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) TEJAS fighter aircraft, with disregard to his own personal safety, during an aerial emergency.

His aircraft had lost all control and he had a miraculous escape at that time. He is presently posted as an Instructor at the Staff College, Wellington.

Family sources said that Group Captain Singh was accompanying Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat in the helicopter as a liaison officer. He has been taken to the Military Hospital in Wellington for treatment. A specialist doctor has been called from Chennai and began operating on Group Captain Singh on Wednesday evening. Family sources said that Group Captain Singh was conscious before being taken for surgery and wished to speak to his wife.

Originally residents of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, Colonel KP Singh and his wife are now residents of Bhopal after the former settled down following his superannuation. They were with their other son in Mumbai when the crash took place today.