General Liang Guanglie, the Chinese defence minister had broken the protocol after he had a debatable gift for the IAF pilots who had taken the minister and his team in the lavish Embraer Legacy jet from Mumbai to New Delhi on Monday. They had received a cash of Rs 1 Lakh as a token of appreciation from the minister.

Since the gift in the monetary form was unacceptable, the pilots had reported to the senior IAF officials who later contacted the defense ministry. The gift was deposited in the government treasury, Toshakhana since it might hurt the Chinese sensitivities of they returned the gift.

The Chinese delegation, 23 of them, had come all the way from Beijing to Mumbai in China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft last Sunday and as a goodwill gesture the Indian defence ministry had deployed the Legacy EMB 135BJ jet and an Avro from the Palam-based VVIP 'Air HQ Communication Squadron' to ferry them to the Capital.

It is not unusual for the foreign dignitaries to present the pilots for their service with small gifts like cufflinks and ties but the pilots accepted the sealed envelopes bearing no hint that it had contained crisp stack of currency after the official had landed at Palam.

(AW- Anil)