NEET UG 2025: Aarav Thakur from Himachal Pradesh Bilaspur emerges as state topper

BILASPUR: Aarav Thakur from Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, who secured All India Rank of 500 in the NEET-UG examination, emerged as the state topper with 99.97 percentile score. Aarav, who earlier cleared the IIT entrance test JEE (Mains), scored 619 out of 720 marks in the medical entrance exam results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday.

There was a festive atmosphere at Aarav's home with people congratulating him. Aarav, a resident of Hatwar area in Bilaspur, gave the credit for his success to his elder sister Amrita Thakur, who is pursuing MBBS at Tanda.

Talking to reporters, he said that along with his sister, his parents and teachers also have a big contribution behind this success. He said that he was studying in an academy in Bilaspur for four years. With engineering and medical both options open, Aarav said that he is more inclined towards engineering but will take the final decision after careful consideration.

Aarav's father Jagdeep Thakur is a physics teacher, while mother Sapna Thakur is also a teacher. According to the results declared by the NTA, Rajasthan's Mahesh Kumar has topped NEET-UG, while Utkarsh Awadhiya from Madhya Pradhesh has bagged the second rank. More than 12.36 lakh candidates out of 22.09 lakh test takers qualified the exam. The number is down from last year's 13.15 lakh qualifying candidates. However, the number of test takers was also higher last year at over 23.33 lakh.