Calcutta, Nov. 22: Ashutosh Kaushik, a 29-year-old dhaba owner from Saharanpur, was declared the winner of the reality show Bigg Boss.

He beat 12 better-known contestants, among them Monica Bedi and Rahul Mahajan, to emerge the last man standing in the second season of the show beamed on Colours.

The programme is the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother in the UK that Shilpa Shetty won last year.

Last week, Rahul, the son of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, Bhojpuri actor Raja Chaudhury and model-turned-actor Zulfi Syed surprised viewers by quitting the show.

Today, thousands of fans joined the previously evicted housemates in Lonavala as television viewers waited for the winner’s name.

Kaushik, who took home the Rs 1 crore prize money, won another reality show earlier this year — MTV Roadies.

Kaushik dedicated his victory to Raja and Rahul. “Yeh meri jeet nahi hai. Yeh Rahul bhai aur Raja bhai ki jeet hai (This is not my victory but that of Raja and Rahul),” he said.