PUNE: The DNA repository at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune has been used successfully so far in 12 cases to ascertain the identities of the officers and men who died in action or in accidents on field.
This includes the victims of the December 8, 2021, MI-17 IAF helicopter crash that claimed the lives of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife, Madhulika, among others, near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DG-AFMS) Lt Gen Daljit Singh said, "We needed to have full proof scientific evidence to ascertain the identity of each body in the helicopter crash. A team of doctors from the AFMC’s forensic medicine department (which is in charge of the DNA repository project) then visited the accident site to collect samples for DNA fingerprinting at the repository to identify the bodies.”
