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Neha Dhupia is Miss India Universe

Twenty-one-year-old Neha Dhupia from New Delhi won the Fa Femina Miss India Universe 2002 crown in the finals held in Hyderabad on Saturday night.

Last year's Miss India Universe Celina Jaitley crowned this year's winner.

Mumbai beauty Shruti Sharma (22) was crowned Miss India-World while Reshmi Ghosh (23) from Kolkata was declared Miss India Earth at a glittering event at the sprawling NAC grounds near Hi-tec City on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Among other prizes, three winners were presented with cars from Fiat.

The first runner-up was Gauhar Khan (19) from Pune and the second runner-up was Tina Chhatwal (23) from New Delhi.

The panel of judges included sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, international designers Zandra Rhodes and Anand Jon, Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta, India's Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan, 1999 Femina Miss India Yukta Mookhey, German singer Sabrina Setlur and actress Padma Lakshmi.

The final rounds of the beauty contest were hosted in Hyderabad for the first time.

The trio were among 26 finalists who were subjected to three rounds of questioning by the panel of judges. The five final contestants were asked to pose to the panel of judges the question uppermost on their minds.

Neha clinched the top title with her question: "In this time of Indo-Pak tensions, why can't we all seek peace, forget Indo-Pak border and live like human beings."

Shruti wanted to know what the judges would ask the head of state of a country which was at war with theirs.

Reshmi's poser was how nervous they were when questioning the beauties.

Incidentally, Neha and Shruti have graduated from Delhi's Jesus and Mary College.

While Neha will represent India in the Miss Universe pageant. Shruti will participate in the Miss World contest and Reshmi in the Miss Earth show.

The three-hour-long pageant was compered by Malaika Arora and Raageshwari.

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