A government tehsildar who won ₹50 lakh on Kaun Banega Crorepati sitting opposite Amitabh Bachchan apparently decided that quiz show winnings were merely an appetizer — the real jackpot was ₹2.5 crore meant for flood victims in Sheopur, funneled through 127 fake bank accounts.
Amita Singh Tomar, the tehsildar of Baroda in Sheopur district, first became a national celebrity by winning ₹50 lakh on KBC. She then apparently applied her demonstrated intelligence to a more ambitious project: orchestrating the diversion of ₹2.57 crore in flood relief funds meant for 794 affected families into 127 fictitious bank accounts created in the names of relatives and associates. The operation involved 25 revenue officials and over 100 intermediaries — essentially a mid-sized startup dedicated to stealing from disaster victims. When the Supreme Court rejected her anticipatory bail on March 18, noting she had presented "no solid legal grounds," police tracked her to a house in Gwalior and arrested her on March 26. One imagines the irony was not lost on her: the woman who once correctly answered questions for money was now incorrectly answering for stolen money.