Alappuzha: Keralite Lekshmi Menon was crowned Miss Queen of India at the beauty contest staged at Camelot Convention Center. Shebagged the ttle beating 18 beauties from across the country.
Simran Malhotra from Punjab was chosen first runner-up while Aiswarya Sahadev from Delhi became the second runner-up.
Former winner Akansha Mishra crowned Lekshmi Menon, while Manappuram Finance Ltd MD&CEO: V P Nandakumar crowned Simran and Aiswarya.
The event was organized by Pegasus.
Miss Queen of India is a stepping stone for international beauty contests like Miss Asia and Miss Glam World.
The contests were held in three stages – designer saree, black cocktail and red gown. Apart from Thrissur native Lekshmi, another Malayali was also in the run: Samrudha Sunilkumar from Kochi.
The other contestants were Aiswarya Sahadev, Apoorva Nayak, Aswini Dhanraj Rangari, Raveena Jain, Sahiba Basin, Sania Ashraf, Thanusree Mandal, Meenakshi Mangey, Neha Jha, Pooja Milind Javer, Swapnil Jolly, Priyal Girish Panotvala, Sandhya Thotta, Shali Nivekas, Shreesha, Sharanya Shetty and Simran Malhotra.