Gandhinagar: The identity of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has been officially confirmed through DNA testing, three days after the tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad. The test results were received at 11:10 a.m. on Sunday. Mr. Rupani’s remains will be flown from Ahmedabad to Rajkot via a chartered aircraft. His family is expected to finalize funeral arrangements by 1:00 p.m. today.

The disaster occurred on June 12, when a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as flight AI171 crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The crash claimed the lives of 241 of the 242 people on board. Mr. Rupani, aged 68, was among those who perished. Only one passenger survived the crash.

The aircraft plunged into a building within the BJ Medical College campus in Meghaninagar, located just over a kilometre from the runway. The crash triggered a massive fireball, destroying a portion of a hostel building and causing several fatalities on the ground, including multiple MBBS students.

As of Sunday, 32 victims have been positively identified, and the remains of 14 individuals have been handed over to their families.

It is learnt that Rupani had cancelled his flight ticket twice and booked a ticket for June 12. Now it has been revealed that Rupani’s original ticket for June 12 was for seat 11G. This seat was in the row of Vishwas Kumar, the only survivor of the plane crash. This seat was changed at the last minute to 2D in business class. Rupani usually travels in business class. But this time, as he had the family of Nitin Bhardwaj and Dhansukh Bhanderi with him, he chose economy class. All the friends had booked seats in economy to avoid unnecessary expenses while going on vacation.

Whenever Rupani used to travel in economy class, he would choose a seat with an emergency exit. So that he would get proper leg-space. This time too, he did the same. Hence, his ticket number was 11G in economy class. In this same row, seat number 11A belonged to Vishwaskumar Ramesh. He survived the plane crash. In the same row, Vishwaskumar’s ticket was on the left side, while Rupani’s ticket was on the right side. Leaving two seats to Vishwaskumar’s right, the seat belonged to Rupani. Seat number 11G was later allotted to Arjun Patolia, originally from Surat. He also died.

The airline had contacted Rupani 48 hours in advance after it came to know that former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijaybhai Rupani was travelling in economy class. Air India had contacted Rupani in advance and asked him to update his ticket and transfer him to business class. Vijaybhai had therefore asked to contact his booking agent. RV Tours provided the details, so Vijaybhai was transferred to business class. The entire vacation trip was planned, booked and every itinerary during the tour was done by RV Tours and Travels, a Rajkot-based travel company.  Vijaybhai had 3.5 kg of extra luggage with him in addition to the permit. For which he had paid the fee. This extra luggage included pickles, papads, khakras and other items. Rupani was taking all this luggage to his daughter Radhika’s house in London.

Rupani’s wife Anjaliben left for London on May 19. There was a small religious function at her daughter’s house who lived there. After that, there was a plan to go out with friends to Scotland. Special friends Nitin Bhardwaj and Dhansukhbhai Bhanderi had booked tickets for June 5, but since Rupani was as a Punjab BJP incharge busy with a by-election in Ludhiana in Punjab, the plan changed. Only Dhansukh Bhanderi went to London on June 5. After that, Vijay Rupani and Nitin Bhardwaj booked tickets for June 10. However, Rupani could not go due to work on hand, so he sent Nitin Bhardwaj to London on June 10 and booked his ticket for June 12.

Vijay Rupani was seen in two videos at the airport before the plane crash. In one video, he is seen entering the gate. While in another video, he is seen walking in the airport lounge talking to someone on his mobile. Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, a UK citizen and founder of a company called ‘The Wellness Foundry’, and Jamie, a director, uploaded an Instagram story from Ahmedabad airport. Vijay Rupani was accidentally captured in this video. Both the UK citizens were visiting Junagadh in Gujarat for a few days for spiritual purpose. The date on which Vijaybhai Rupani passed away is 12-06-2025. The date and month match comes to 1206 which was Vijaybhai’s favorite number. He kept the vehicle number of his car, Activa, as 1206. He used to choose 12-06 to do any good deed. Coincidentally, he boarded a plane on 12-06 and died in a plane crash.  DeshGujarat