According to Indian intelligence sources, Vaidya had been the number four assassination target on lists of Punjabi insurgents and he was one of several people killed in retaliation for Operation Blue Star. Vaidya was cremated in Pune with full military honours; in attendance were his wife, daughters Neeta Kochar, Parijat Belliappa and Tarini Vaidya, Union ministers V.P. Singh, V.N. Gadgil and Arun Singh, the three service chiefs, Governor of Maharashtra Shankar Dayal Sharma and Chief Minister of Maharashtra S.B. Chavan, along with over 50,000 other mourners.