London, October 5
Britain’s spy agency MI5 made a determined bid to "get rid" of India's first High Commissioner to the UK, VK Krishna Menon, because of his “pro-Soviet” leanings but failed due to strong backing from then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, according to a new book.

“The attempt to oust High Commissioner VK Krishna Menon failed because of the support of Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru," the book - "The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5" - by Professor Christopher Andrew released today says.

The matter was considered too sensitive to be recorded officially. But the book says Guy Liddel, a prominent deputy director general of MI5 had noted in his personal diary that he had told a joint intelligence committee that “they were doing what they would to get rid of Krishna Menon”.

Menon was held in "deep distrust not only by the British spy agencies but also by TG Sanjevi, the head of independent India's first domestic security service, the Delhi Intelligence Branch," the book says.

In 1933, the MI5, Britain's military intelligence agency, had obtained a Home Office Warrant on Menon on the grounds that he was an "important worker in the Indian revolutionary movement" with links to the Communist Party of Great Britain.

"Fears of Menon's pro-Soviet sympathies were well founded. On at least one occasion during his later political career in India, the KGB, former Soviet spy agency, paid his election expenses," the book claimed. — PTI