Lucknow: Prateek Yadav belonged to one of the country’s most prominent political families. But, he stayed away from politics. The son of Samajwadi Party founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav and stepbrother of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Prateek was known in Lucknow’s social circles for his passion for bodybuilding.
An MBA from University of Leeds, he ran a popular gym in the city’s posh Gomti Nagar area. He was even featured by an internationally renowned bodybuilding website as the “International Transformation of the Month” in September 2012.
Married to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Aparna Yadav, who is also vice chairperson of the UP Women’s Commission, Prateek also had a reputation as an animal rights activist and was closely involved with a city-based NGO.
He also owned a collection of luxury cars, including a blue Lamborghini.
In 2017, he came into the spotlight after he bought the Lamborghini reportedly worth around Rs 5 crore. The purchase triggered criticism, with Mulayam’s political adversaries juxtaposing it with the Samajwadi Party’s socialist credentials.
In response, Prateek had then claimed he purchased the car through a bank loan.
Prateek Yadav died Wednesday at his residence in the city. According to details of the post mortem report accessed by ThePrint, he experienced a “cardiorespiratory collapse due to massive pulmonary thromboembolism”. He was 38.
Akhilesh, who reached the Civil Hospital after Prateek’s body was brought there, said the two last met in March. Admitting that Prateek’s death came as a shock, Akhilesh said he had advised him to look after his health when they last met.
Prateek’s mother: Sadhna Gupta
Prateek’s father, former defence minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, married twice. Akhilesh was his son from the first wife, Malti Devi. After her death in 2003, Mulayam married Sadhna Gupta.
Prateek was Sadhna’s son from her first marriage to Chandra Prakash Gupta.
According to Samajwadi Party functionaries close to the Yadav family, Sadhna and Chandra Prakash Gupta separated a year after Prateek’s birth. They eventually got divorced in 1990. Not long after, she began living at Mulayam’s residence in Lucknow while his first wife, Malti Devi, lived at his ancestral home in Saifai.
Sources who were close to Mulayam also claim that former Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh had advised him to publicly acknowledge his relationship with Sadhna Gupta. Mulayam took care of Prateek’s education and upbringing, they added.
Though Mulayam passed on his political legacy to Akhilesh, he is said to have treated Akhilesh and Prateek as equals.
Family sources claim both sons were given an equal share in the family assets.
Prateek’s wife: Aparna Yadav
In 2011, Prateek married Aparna Yadav, daughter of Lucknow-based journalist Arvind Singh Bisht. A person close to the Yadav family claims Prateek and Aparna had been seeing each other for nearly six years by the time they got married. According to him, the two first met at a party through a mutual friend and later stayed in touch through emails.
In an interview with a British newspaper, Aparna had said that she developed feelings for Prateek while she was in Class 10. She also said that for several years she did not know he was Mulayam’s son.
In January this year, Prateek and Aparna publicly announced that they were planning to file for divorce. In an Instagram post, Prateek even accused Aparna of damaging his relationship with his family and prioritising fame and influence over personal ties. He also said that she showed little concern for his deteriorating mental health.
However, he later deleted the post and said everything was fine between them.
While Prateek stayed away from politics, Aparna harboured political ambitions.
She unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket. In 2022, she joined the BJP, saying she had faith in the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath. She was appointed vice-chairperson of the UP Women’s Commission in September 2024.
A Samajwadi Party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Prateek was not in favour of her joining the BJP because he did not want it to affect his relationship with Akhilesh.
At the time of Prateek’s death, Aparna Yadav was in Assam.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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