Residents of a village in Deoria, from where Group Captain Varun Singh hails, are growing restless and want to see the lone survivor of the IAF chopper crash through videoconference.

Sitting at the door of Varun’s house at Khorma Kanhauli village in Rudrapur, they have been expecting positive news soon.

Some women of the village are praying at the Sankat Mochan temple for the speedy recovery of the 42-year-old officer who was shifted to the army hospital in Bangalore on Thursday.

The villagers said Varun’s father Krishna Pratap Singh, a retired colonel in the Indian Army, was taken to the hospital and allowed to see his son through the glass door of the ICU. Singh lives in Bhopal with his wife Uma Singh. Anuj Singh, the youngest brother of the officer, is also there at the hospital.

Villagers said Varun had received the Shaurya Chakra from the President on August 15 this year for successfully landing his LCA Tejas fighter plane on October 12, 2020 after its flying control system had failed at an altitude of 10,000 feet.

The villagers remembered that he had visited Khorma Kanhauli in July last year to attend a wedding ceremony in the family.

“We had asked the government to arrange a videoconference for us to see Varun in the hospital but it was turned down on the grounds of protocol. We are still hopeful that we will be able to see him soon after he recovers well,” Pravesh Singh, a villager told reporters.

Akhilesh Pratap Singh, former Congress MLA of Rudrapur and Varun’s uncle who rushed to the village after receiving the news, said: “We are praying for his speedy recovery.”

“The women of the village are praying round the clock at the Sankat Mochan temple ever since they have got the news of his injury,” he added.

Varun’s younger brother Tanuj Singh is a lieutenant commander in the navy.

“We are with Varun’s wife Gitanjali, son Rid Raman and daughter Aradhya in this hour of crisis,” the Congress MLA said.