Mohita Sharma’s is an IPS officer now, serving in Jammu and Kashmir. But her journey didn’t start with the uniform or the stars on the shoulders. Born into a simple middle-class family with roots in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, Mohita grew up as the only child. Her father worked in a factory, her mother looked after the home. Money was never plenty, yet somehow her parents managed to send her to Delhi Public School in Dwarka and later to Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering for her B.Tech.
Being the only daughter came with its own unwanted comments. Relatives and neighbours would say the usual things every Indian parent of a girl child has heard. Those words stuck with Mohita. She’s said in interviews that she decided early on she wouldn’t stay the reason for those taunts. She wanted to become the reason her parents could hold their heads high. That quiet resolve pushed her towards the civil services.
After graduation she joined the Election Commission of India as an Assistant Section Officer. While doing a regular government job, she started preparing for the UPSC. It wasn’t smooth. She failed four times. Four full attempts, each one ending in disappointment. Most people would have given up by the second or third try. Society already expects women in their late twenties to focus on marriage and settle down. Mohita kept going.
In her fifth attempt in 2016 she finally cracked it. All India Rank 262. She was allotted the Indian Police Service and joined the 2017 batch. Geography was her optional. She had taken coaching at Vajiram & Ravi while balancing her job. The years of struggle had taught her a kind of discipline no classroom could fully give.
Once she became an IPS officer she was posted in the AGMUT cadre and has served in Jammu and Kashmir. She’s handled tough responsibilities, including law-and-order situations in sensitive areas. In one widely reported case she led the team that arrested the mastermind behind a terrorist attack on pilgrims in Reasi district. That’s the kind of work that rarely makes it into motivational posters, yet it defines real service.
Then came an unexpected chapter that brought her national attention in a completely different way. In 2020 she appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 12. Interestingly, it wasn’t even her own long-held dream. Her husband, IFS officer Rushal Garg, had been trying to get on the show for nearly twenty years. He encouraged her to register. She got through Fastest Finger First and found herself sitting opposite Amitabh Bachchan.
She played with calm confidence and eventually answered the ₹1 crore question correctly. The question was about which explosive was first patented in 1898 by a German chemist and used in World War II. The options were HMX, RDX, TNT and PETN. She used the expert lifeline and locked RDX. When Bachchan announced “Ek crore,” she said she had goosebumps. She later shared that she wasn’t on the show primarily for the money. It felt more like completing a long-pending family dream.
She became the second crorepati of that season and the first female IPS officer to win that amount on the show. After the win she even joked on social media about finding two Maggi masala sachets in one packet, calling it extra luck from the universe.
What makes Mohita’s story land so well is how ordinary the beginning was and how steady the climb remained. No overnight success, no viral shortcuts. Just repeated failures, a government job, late-night study sessions, and a clear personal reason that kept her moving. She’s spoken about wanting young girls to stop being seen as lesser. Her own life has become quiet proof that the taunts can be turned into fuel.
Today she continues to serve as a senior police officer. The uniform sits easily on her, the name plate reading Mohita Sharma, the responsibility still heavy. The ₹1 crore win is a nice chapter, but it isn’t the main plot. The main plot remains the decision she made years earlier: she would not be the reason for anyone’s taunts. She would be the reason her parents felt pride.
In a country full of UPSC aspirants who give up after two or three attempts, her five-attempt journey still travels quietly from one WhatsApp forward to another. It’s not flashy. It’s simply honest. And that’s why it continues to matter.
Sources:
Odisha TV, Times Now, India Today, The Indian Express, Navbharat Times, Live Hindustan, IPS Biography profiles, and multiple interviews given by Mohita Sharma around her KBC win and UPSC journey.
@Rohit Manral