K. K. Chettur

K.K. Chettur, Indian Ambassador to Japan shaking hands with Katsuo Okazaki, Japanese Foreign Minister, after signing the Indo-Japanese Treaty of Peace in Tokyo Krishna Krishna Chettur ICS (10 March 1901 – 29 April 1956) was an Indian civil servant and diplomat who served as India's first ambassador to Japan.

Career After university, during which he took an MA, Chettur entered the Indian Civil Service on 5 March 1925, serving in the Indian Audit Department. From October 1930 to April 1933, he was posted as a currency officer in Rangoon (now Yangon), the capital of British Burma (now Myanmar) and then a province of British India.

From 8 March 1950, Chettur was posted to Tokyo as the Head of the Indian Liaison Mission and Political Representative of India with the Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP), in which capacity he held the personal rank of a Minister. He was promoted to the rank of Ambassador on 24 November 1951. On 28 April 1952, following India's official peace treaty with Japan, he was appointed India's first Ambassador to Japan, with effect from 7 May 1952, and served in that role until 25 July 1952, when he was appointed Ambassador to Burma. In September 1954, he was appointed as Ambassador to Belgium, formally retiring from government service on his 55th birthday, but continuing to serve as Ambassador to Belgium.

Personal life Chettur was born into a distinguished political family. His uncle was Sir C. Sankaran Nair, a judge of the Madras High Court and the President of the Indian National Congress in 1897, who subsequently served as Advocate-General of the Madras Presidency from 1906 to 1908. Among his cousins was the Indian Army general Kunhiraman Palat Candeth.

Chettur's daughter Jaya Jaitly is a noted socialist politician and activist who founded the Samata Party; his granddaughter Aditi is married to cricketer Ajay Jadeja.