Odisha twins score identical 99.998 percentile in JEE Main

Identical twins from Bhubneswar achieve a remarkable feat by scoring identical marks in the JEE Main exam, setting their sights on IIT Bombay and a future in computer science.

Competitiveness ended at home for identical twins Mahroof Ahmed Khan and Masroor Ahmed Khan, as they both scored an identical 285 in their JEE Main, hitting the 99.998th percentile.

The twins from Bhubneswar, students of Allen Career Institute in Kota, appeared for the JEE Main 2026 in the same shift at the same centre.

The exam result was declared on Monday.

Born on May 7, 2008, the brothers studied together throughout, from school to coaching classes.

According to their coaching institute, their mother, Dr Zeenat Begum, had been a gynaecologist working with the Odisha government since the 1990s, before she resigned to move to Kota with them in 2023.

"We shifted to Kota in 2023, initially for Olympiad preparation after both brothers qualified for the International Science Olympiad. They later decided to pursue JEE coaching," Begum said.

She said the brothers have been high achievers all along, with Mahroof scoring 95.2 per cent and Masroor 97.2 per cent in Class 10. They have also won nearly 40 medals (each) in national and international Olympiads, she said.

The twins followed similar study strategies and timetables, often competing against each other in tests. If one scored lower, they motivated and helped each other analyse mistakes to improve in subsequent exams.

"They had an interest in maths from the beginning, so they chose to go for engineering rather than medicine. They aspire to pursue BTech in Computer Science at IIT Bombay. Their priority is computer science," she said.

Beyond academics, karate held both brothers' interest in their childhood, Begum said.

The twins are now preparing for JEE Advanced. Their father is also a doctor, and is currently working in Odisha.