Anuj Agnihotri, a 26-year-old MBBS graduate from AIIMS Jodhpur, secured the first rank in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025, results announced on Friday showed.
Rajeshwari Suve M from Tamil Nadu and Akansh Dhull from Panchkula bagged the second and third ranks, respectively.
The commission recommended 958 candidates — 659 men and 299 women — for appointment to various services.
As many as seven candidates from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, five of them women, made it to the top 100.
Panchkula’s Akansh Dhull, 25, clinched AIR 3 in his third attempt after obtaining AIR 342 in 2023 and AIR 295 in 2024.
A BCom graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, with Commerce and Accountancy as his optional subject, Dhull currently serves in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service.
Dhull said he began preparing during his second year of college and said the journey was shaped by learning from early mistakes. “In the beginning, I made technical mistakes in answer writing and sometimes became overconfident. It took me time to refine my writing and introspect after each attempt,” he said.His previous attempt saw him score relatively lower in the personality test, which he described as a “huge setback”. “But I had a dream and I had to keep going,” he said.
He is the son of Krishan Dhull, a former office-bearer of the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare, and a government school principal.
Simrandeep Kaur, 25, from Birarhwal village in Nabha block of Patiala district achieved AIR 15 in her fourth attempt.
In her earlier attempts, she had cleared the preliminary examination twice but could not qualify the mains.
Daughter of vegetable farmer Kuldeep Singh, she completed her graduation in humanities and later a master’s degree in political science from Khalsa College, Patiala. She had also qualified the UGC NET in political science but chose to pursue civil services instead, taking political science as her optional subject.
Speaking about her future aspirations, Simrandeep said she wanted to remain connected to her roots in rural Punjab, and work for the welfare of the rural communities. “I understand the hardships faced by people in villages and want to contribute towards improving their lives,” she said.
Bhavika Chopra, 25, a national-level fencing player from Chandigarh, clinched AIR 25 in her fourth attempt. An economics graduate from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, she had taken economics as her optional subject in her earlier attempts but switched to sociology this time.She had cleared the 2024 examination as well and was allotted the Indian Postal Service, but reappeared to improve her rank. Chopra earlier worked for nearly two years with Ernst & Young. Her father Puneet Chopra is a chartered accountant while her mother Monika Chopra teaches at Carmel Convent School.
She said her interest in governance grew alongside her academic engagement with economics and her habit of reading widely. “I really wanted to help, particularly women,” she said, adding that much of what she read during her studies made her curious about how policy ideas could translate into real change on the ground.
Rasneet Kaur, 22, from Madanpur village in Rajpura block of Patiala district bagged AIR 51 in her first attempt. Daughter of PSPCL lineman Jaswinder Singh, she completed BSc (Hons) in chemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 2024 and began preparing for the examination soon after, cracking it within a year.Rakhi, 32, currently based in Chandigarh, earned AIR 65 in her fourth and final attempt. Originally from Bahadurgarh in Haryana, she studied biotechnology engineering before completing a master’s degree in political science, which she also chose as her optional subject. Rakhi previously worked with the State Bank of India but left her job in 2020. Both her parents are teachers in Haryana.
Rakhi said she hoped her journey would encourage more women, particularly those who were married, to pursue their ambitions. “Many women feel their aspirations must take a back-seat after marriage. I want them to know they can still create their own path,” she said.
Faridkot resident Sunawardeep Singh Mosoun, 26, an inspector in the Punjab cooperative department, secured AIR 76 in his third attempt. He holds a BTech in mechanical engineering from Symbiosis, Pune, and is currently pursuing MTech in farm machinery from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. His father, Kuldeep Singh, is director of PAU’s regional station in Faridkot, while his mother, Gagandeep Kaur, teaches commerce at Government Barjindra College.Another Chandigarh resident, Aakriti Dobhal, achieved AIR 93. Having completed her schooling from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, she pursued BE in Production and Industrial Engineering from Punjab Engineering College.
Among others from the region who cracked the examination are Navneet Kaur, 24, from Bathinda (AIR 111), Shreya Gupta, 22, from Panipat (AIR 114), Aakriti Singla from Fazilka (AIR 122), Suvan Sharma from Jammu and Kashmir (AIR 148), Vikas Panwar, 22, from Shimla (AIR 159), Mukul Jindal, 26, from Ambala (AIR 243) and Lovekesh Gupta from Karnal (AIR 488).
