The jeep scandal in 1948 was first major corruption case in independent India. V.K. Krishna Menon, the then Indian high commissioner to Britain, ignored protocols and signed a Rs 80 lakh contract for the purchase of army jeeps with a foreign firm.
Corruption allegations
V. K. Krishna Menon, then the Indian high commissioner to Britain, bypassed protocol to sign a deal worth Rs 80 lakh with a foreign firm for the purchase of 200 army jeeps. While most of the money was paid upfront, just 155 jeeps landed,the then Prime Minister Nehru forced the government to accept them. Govind Ballabh Pant the then Home Minister and the then Government of Indian National Congress announced on 30 September 1955 that the Jeep scandal case was closed for judicial inquiry ignoring suggestion by the Inquiry Committee led by Ananthsayanam Ayyangar. He declared that "as far as Government was concerned it has made up its mind to close the matter. If the opposition was not satisfied they can make it an election issue". Soon after on 3 February 1956 Krishna Menon was inducted into the Nehru cabinet as minister without portfolio. Later Krishna Menon became Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's trusted ally and the defence minister.
Mahatma Gandhi's Personal Secretary Mr. U V Kalyanam, in a newspaper interview said, "It is pertinent to mention here that Nehru made corrupt colleagues like Krishna Menon, who was involved in the infamous ‘jeep scam’ while he was the Defence Minister."