M. O. Mathai

Mundapallil Oommen Mathai (1909 – 28 August 1981 ) was the Private secretary to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru from 1946 to 1959, when he was forced to quit following the charges of corruption. He is also known for his collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), He resigned from his post in 1959, after the Communists accused him of misusing his power to commit financial fraud.

He died on 28 August 1981, in Madras (now Chennai), due to a heart attack at the age of 72. Controversies CIA connection Mathai is noted to have worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1959, Mathai was forced to quit as Nehru's secretariat following the charges of corruption. The Cabinet Secretary Vishnu Sahay investigated the case and was convinced that Mathai had compromised every file since the days of the Interim Government of India.

Books Mathai wrote two books, Reminiscences of the Nehru Age and My Days with Nehru, during the rule of the Janata alliance government formed after ousting of Indira Gandhi's government.

The book Reminiscences of the Nehru Age has a total 49 chapters, some on Nehru's work and personal life and some on the various people that Mathai met. Mathai had falsely proclaimed himself to be "Nehru's Special Assistant" in the book, and added that "the book is not history or biography, but chatty stuff containing my reminiscences". T V Rajeswar, former chief of Intelligence Bureau has since claimed of receiving a copy of the chapter from M. G. Ramachandran and duly submitting to then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; he claims to have not read the contents. Demands for the ban on the book were made during the Janata alliance rule but Morarji Desai refused these suggestions. His second book "My Days with Nehru" failed to gain any traction.