Bhubaneswar: Maharuf Ahmed Khan, who secured an All India Rank of 32 in the JEE Advanced 2026 Examination, gave up the opportunity to pursue Computer Science Engineering (CSE) at the prestigious IIT Bombay so that he could study with his twin brother Masroor, an AIR 169 ranker, at IIT Madras.
As Maharuf secured a better rank, he got a chance to study CSE at IIT Bombay, but Masroor, who is older by two minutes, may get the opportunity only at IIT Madras because of his rank, their father, Dr Mansoor Ahmad Khan, said.
Hence, Maharuf has decided to stay with his brother and forgo his opportunity to pursue the course at IIT Bombay, Dr Khan, an MD in medicine who serves as the in-charge of a dispensary at IIT Bhubaneswar, told PTI.
Their mother, Dr Zeenat Begum, an MS in Gynaecology, was working in an Odisha government-run hospital but quit her job to stay with her two sons at a rented accommodation in Rajasthan’s Kota for three years for their preparations.
Now their mother may join any private hospital or open her own clinic, Dr Khan said, adding that she had sacrificed her career for the children and he stayed back in Bhubaneswar.
“We hope both our sons will now get a seat each in Computer Science Engineering at IIT Madras,” he said.
Asked whether there was any family pressure either from him or his wife for Maharuf’s decision, he replied in the negative.
“No, we never made such a suggestion. On the contrary, we had asked Maharuf to join IIT Bombay but he declined it and said he preferred to study with his brother,” Dr Khan said.
Maharuf said the twin brothers, both students of DAV Public School at Unit-8 in Bhubaneswar, were engaged in a healthy competition and would discuss topics and work out problems together.
The brothers attended five hours of classes at coaching centres in Kota and engaged in six hours of self-study. They played badminton in their free time, their mother said.
Interestingly, both brothers secured the same marks of 285 and a percentile of 99.99 in JEE (Main) 2026.
