Former Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said the Indian Air Force helped in transporting 625 tonnes of new currency notes after demonetisation in 2016, PTI reported. On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

“When demonetisation took place, we [IAF] took the currency and brought it to you,” he said while speaking at an event in Mumbai. “If one crore comes in a bag of 20 kg, I do not know how many crores we moved.”

Dhanoa was the airforce chief between December 31, 2016 and September 30, 2019. The former air chief’s presentation at the event showed that 33 missions were carried out while transporting the 625 tonnes of treasury consignment following demonetisation.

The former Air Force chief said that controversies such as the Rafale and Bofors deals had affected the capabilities of the armed personnel, adding that the Bofors guns were good. The Bofors scam dates back to 1980s and 1990s when the Congress was in power with Rajiv Gandhi as the prime minister.

The Rafale fighter jet deal had become a major political issue during the Lok Sabha election campaign last year. In November, the Supreme Court dismissed review petitions that alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government concealed crucial facts in the case and misled the top court into giving a favourable verdict in December 2018.

Dhanoa reiterated that the outcome during the standoff between India and Pakistan during Balakot airstrikes in February last year would have been different if Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in a Rafale jet. Last month, Dhanoa had said: “What would have happened in the same engagement had Wing Commander Abhinandan [Varthaman] been flying Rafale aircraft instead of MiG 21- bison?”

The Balakot airstrike, in which Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps were targetted, came days after militants belonging to the Pakistan-based Islamist organisation killed 40 security personnel in Pulwama on February 14. The Indian government described the airstrike as a “non-military preemptive action”.