IIT Alumnus Aditya Srivastava's UPSC Triumph Reminds Internet Of CID's Abhijeet, Here's Why

Aditya Srivastava, an alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, secured the top rank in the UPSC civil services examination, while Animesh Pradhan and Donuru Ananya Reddy claimed the second and third positions, respectively. Interestingly, after Srivastava’s name started circulating on the internet, many mistook him for the CID actor of the same name, who played the character of senior inspector Abhijeet in the popular TV series. This mix up left social media amused, who are now sharing humourous memes and jokes about the actor topping the UPSC exam. While the meme fest initially began as fun, some individuals are still not sure and continue to speculate whether the All India Rank 1 (AIR) Aditya is a TV actor or someone else.

CID ran for nearly two decades and Srivastava remained in the show until its conclusion in 2018. The show also featured iconic figures like Shivaji Satam as ACP Pradyuman, Dinesh Phadnis as Dayanand Shetty and Narendra Gupta as Dr Salunkhe. Despite various cast changes over the years, these actors remained till the end.

Talking about the Civil Services Exam, it is conducted in three stages, preliminary, main and interview. These stages test candidates so that they can move to numerous professional roles, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other government services. According to media reports, this year, almost 1,016 candidates (664 men and 352 women) successfully cleared the examination and the top five positions were held by three men and two women.

Aditya Srivastava’s educational journey began at the CMS Lucknow, followed by IIT-Kanpur and he later worked at Goldman Sachs. Despite getting opportunities in the corporate sector, Srivastava opted for civil service. Speaking about the experience with ANI, the topper said, “It was a bit difficult to sink in but after that I was ecstatic. I was not expecting Rank 1, I was praying to God to get into the top 70, so that I can get into Indian Administrative Services. I would just say that being consistent and hard work along with smart work is the key to do whatever you want to achieve and the same holds good for this field as well.”

Apart from his iconic role in CID, actor Aditya Srivastava has worked in several successful films including Dil Se, Satya, Bheed, Super 30, Raat Akeli Hai and Gulaal. Recently, he played a negative character in Bhumi Pednekar’s movie Bhakshak.