Lt Gen Manoj Pande to become Chief of the Defence Staff

New Delhi: Army Vice Lieutenant General Manoj Pande will become Chief of the Army Staff as the incumbent General M.M. Naravane is about to retire at the end of this month, IANS reported.

Lt Gen Pande is the senior-most in the force after Gen Naravane.

Gen Naravane is the front runner of the post after the death of General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash on December 8, last year. In the accident, General Rawat and his wife Madhulika, along with 12 armed personnel, got killed.

Lt Gen Pande became the senior after a few top officials got retired in the last three months. Also, the incumbent Lt Gen Raj Shukla., the commander of the Army's training command (ARTRAC), retired on March 31. Some others, including Lieutenant General C.P. Mohanty and Lt Gen Y.K. Joshi retired in January.

This March, Lt Gen S.S. Mahal assumed command of ARTRAC at Shimla after Lt Gen Raj Shukla got retired. While Lt Gen C. Bansi Ponnappa took charge as Adjutant General of the Army, Lt Gen JP Mathews took over as the General Officer Commanding the Uttar Bharat area.