In the ongoing 17th season of "Kaun Banega Crorepati", an amazing incident was witnessed when Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, an IRS officer currently working as Deputy Commissioner Income Tax in Agra, participated.
In the first episode of this season, when Ashutosh came to play Jaldi 5 after winning Fastest Fingers First, Amitabh Bachchan asked him about his introduction like rest of the contestants. Ashutosh told that he originally hails from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh and is currently working as Deputy Commissioner Income Tax in Agra. On hearing this, Amitabh Bachchan got shocked for a moment. Amitabh Bachchan says, "Bhai sahab, I are am happy to meet you, I shake hands with you, I touch your feet. I would always like to come in front of the Income Tax Department like this. Just occasionally, if my case comes in front of you, then you remember that you played "Jaldi 5" with us." Although many big names have reached KBC till now, but Ashutosh's charisma was different from all.
After this, Ashutosh wins the tough competition of Jaldi 5 by playing brilliantly and qualifies for the hot seat. In the next episode, Ashutosh starts the game as a rollover contestant. Amitabh Bachchan added that usually he takes all the female contestants to the hot seat, but this time, he escorted Ashutosh to the hot seat, because he is the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax. He says, "Bhai sahab, please keep some mercy on us. If ever a notice comes, I will come running to you."
Ashutosh further explains in the game that there are many such moments in everyone's life when a person keeps thinking about the past that if this had happened, then this would have happened. In this context, Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poem "Bit Gayi So Baat Gayi" has been a milestone for him.
Ashutosh further started reciting some lines of this poem, which was highly appreciated by Amitabh Bachchan, and along with Ashutosh, he also read some lines of this poem, which was welcomed by the audience with loud applause.
Let us tell you that Ashutosh Pandey has cleared the most prestigious UPSC Civil Services Examination twice, in 2017 and 2019, and is an officer of the 2018 batch of Indian Revenue Service. It was also mentioned in the program that Ashutosh and his team caught tax evasion of Rs 1500-2000 crore in the last 2-3 years. Ashutosh has previously cleared medical and engineering exams simultaneously, after class 12th. He had simultaneously succeeded in IIT, AIIMS, BITS Pilani, AIPMT, AFMC entrance exams. After initially taking admission in MBBS in AFMC Pune, he finally pursued Computer Science from BITS Pilani.
Ashutosh's mother Mrs. Asha Pandey and wife Arpita Dubey were present in the program with him. Arpita is currently working as AVP in a private institute, after studying from IIM Ahmedabad. Ashutosh is the eldest of the 3 children of his father Mr. Ajay Kumar Pandey. His sister Priya Pandey is working in a! multinational company after doing engineering from IIT Guwahati and younger sister Saumya Pandey is pursuing MBBS. Amitabh Bachchan also praised the program by calling it an "educated and virtuous family".
At the end of the episode, Amitabh Bachchan against remarks, "May God bless you with great success, but may it never happen that you have to come to our house for Income-tax Raid, otherwise you and your family are always welcome at our home."
Due to Ashutosh's participation in Kaun Banega Crorepati and Amitabh Bachchan's special way of welcoming him, there is an atmosphere of joy in his home district Ballia, and everyone is feeling proud.
