The editorial Page: From farms to factories, trade pact with uK opens new opportunities in India 8 TUeSday, JUNe 23, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage MuMBai, Late CitY, 16 PageS ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com Da i LY f R O M : a H M e Da B a D , C H a n D i ga R H , D e L H i , j a i P u R , kO L k ata , L u C k n O W , M u M B a i , n ag P u R , Pat n a , P u n e , va D O Da R a rEg.NO. Mcs/067/2018 - 20 rNI rEgN. NO. 1543/57 EXPRESSinvestigation His govt mapped Ujjain’s infra push, Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav, family bought land in prime areas since he becaMe Minister in 2021, faMily purchases add up to 253 acres Jay Mazoomdaar Ujjain, New Delhi, June 22 tHe CitY of Ujjain is at the centre of a massive urban renewal,drivenbyasweepinginfrastructure upgrade — from new roads and highways to changes in land use that will allow an unprecedented expansionofresidentialandcommercial spaces. All this has made Ujjain one of india’s hottest property markets.Amongtheearlyinvestors are Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, his immediate family, siblings and first cousins. since he took oath as the Chief Minister of the BJP-led governmentinMadhyaPradesh on December 13, 2023, Mohan Yadav’sfamilyandtheirrealestate companies have bought at least 137 plots , adding up to 168 acres, for Rs 45 crore, in zones most benefited by this infrastructurepush,aninvestigation of land records by The Indian Expresshasfound.Recordsalso show that at least six of these plots were sold subsequently. this does not include the family’slandtransactionsin2026,if any, as official land records are not updated immediately. According to khatauni (ownership)records,theseplots were purchased by Mohan Ya- dav’swifeseema,sonVaibhav’s wife shalini Yadav, brothers Nandlal and Narayan Yadav, Narayan’swifeRekha,theirson Abhay Yadav, and first cousins govind and Nilesh Yadav — eitherdirectlyorthroughoneof four real estate companies run by the family. these purchases highlight two key issues that raise questions of propriety and conflict of interest. one, most of these plots are eitherclosetonewroadprojects announced in and around Ujjain, or in areas demarcated for changeoflandusefromagriculture to residential or commercial in the Ujjain Master Plan 2035. While the Ujjain Master Plan 2035 was released in May 2023, months before Yadav became the chief minister, he has been involved in the holy city’s tourism and infrastructure developmentfordecades—asthe chairpersonoftheUjjainDevelopment Authority during 2004-2010,asheadofMPtourism Development Corporation (MPtDC)during2011-13,andas MlA from Ujjain (south) since 2013. since January 2024, soon after Mohan Yadav took charge as chief minister, the state »CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 l WhooWNS hoW mUCh LAND PURCHASES TOTAL HOLDINGS* 2024-25 ₹45 crore 137plots 245 plots 2021-2023 ₹30 crore 57plots 335 acres 168 acres 85 acres no of Plots in acres 2021 10 8 2022 14 27 *includes old/unknown plot purchases 2023 33 50 2024 75 76 2025 62 92 MOHAN YADAV l Wife SEEmA l SiDDHivinaYak DevCOnS MajORitY OWneD BY SeeMa anD MOHan YaDav l MangaLMuRti infRa at YaDav’S faMiLY aDDReSS in ujjain: 180, aBDaLPuRa l SOn VAibhAV l DaugHteR-inLaW ShAliNi 11 acres 17 acres 28 acres 17 acres (with family & partners) (with wife) 47 acres 108 acres 19 acres 10 acres Cousin Govind Cousin Nilesh Brother Narayan 20 acres Brother Nandlal 17 acres nephew Abhay (with partners) 16 acres all figures rounded off Sister Kalavati 17 acres Sister-in-law Rekha 6 acres Don’tlinkCMto extendedfamily; theyhavelong beeninrealty: Stateofficials Express News Service ‘We hit a sixer’: Shinde inducts 6 MPs from Sena UBT in his party Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, June 22 MAHARAsHtRA DePUtY Chief Minister eknath shinde on Monday formally inducted six rebel shiv sena (UBt) lok sabha MPs into the shiv sena, completing what leaders in his camp described as “operation tiger” and dealing the biggest blow to Uddhav thackeray’s party since the 2022 split. At a joint press conference attended by all six MPs — sanjay Jadhav, sanjay Dina Patil, sanjayDeshmukh,omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, Nagesh Patil Ashtikar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure — shinde declared that the second phase of the shiv sena rebellion was complete. the shiv sena chief also assured the MPs that after joining six rebel shiv sena uBT MPs join shiv sena led by Maharashtra Deputy chief Minister Eknath shinde in Mumbai on Monday. ganeSH SHiRSekaR the ruling side, they would no longer face hurdles in securing funds or carrying out development works in their constituencies. “in 2022, 40 MlAs camewithus.todaywehavehit asixer.thisisthesecondphase. ourfightisforBalasaheb’sideology and Hindutva. Wherever there is shiv sena ideology, there are real shiv sainiks and that is why these six MPs have joined us today,” shinde said. theinductionofthesixMPs takes the shinde-led sena’s strength in the lok sabha from seven to 13, significantly strengthening the party’s positioninDelhi.thepartyhasnow »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bhopal, New Delhi, June 22 NeitHeR CHieF Minister Mohan Yadav nor his office commentedonadetailedquestionnaire sent by The Indian Express on its findings. However, state government officials,ontheconditionthatthey not be named, said it was “not correct” to link purchases by the CM’s family and his presence in the government. “the CM’s extended family has been in the real estate business for a while,” said an official. “to link their businesses with the CM’s rise in politics will not be proper.” He added that it was also “not correct” to go beyond the Chief Minister’s immediate family in talking about his assets: “When you talk about his »CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Mahayuti sweeps MLC polls as Nashik winner backs Shiv Sena Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, June 22 tHe BJP-leD Mahayuti on Monday swept 16 of the 17 Maharashtra legislative Council seats, including six elected unoppsed earlier, even as Nashik delivered a surprise defeat to the governing bloc. However, the lone defeat of Mahayuti took a dramatic turn later in the evening when independent candidate gokul gite, who won in Nashik, decided to support Deputy Chief Minister »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP workers celebrate in Nagpur on Monday. Pti SOuRCe: MaDHYa PRaDeSH LanD ReCORDS Cousins turn land bank into housing projects Govind’s deal with Indore developer, Nilesh building under Sawariya brand Jay Mazoomdaar Ujjain, June 22 WHile oN a land-purchasing spree in and around Ujjain, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s family struck deals with builders to develop some of these parcels. A few clusters are being developed by the family itself. For instance, between April 2024 and July 2025, Mohan Yadav’s cousin govind Yadav and his associates purchased 41 acres through 16 land deals in gangedi, near the junction of the upgraded Ujjain-Badnagar and Ujjain-indore highways. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 A housing project coming up in ujjain’s gangedi. exPReSS 128 156 194 90 15killedin Lucknow buildingfire; In conversation with Nara Lokesh ownersamong Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh with Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, The Indian threearrested Express, at the Express Adda in New Delhi, Monday. Renuka PuRi Manish Sahu, Bhupendra Pandey & Maulshree Seth Lucknow, June 22 At leAst 15 people were killed after a massive fire tore through athree-storeycommercialbuildinginlucknow’supscaleAliganj area on Monday afternoon. While a pet shop was on the ground floor, the second floor, whichborethebruntoftheblaze, housed Head Hopper studios, a companyinvolvedin3Dartproductionandgamedevelopment. Mostofthevictimsworkedthere. the fire department first received information about the blaze at the building on Usha Mehta Marg, under the Aliganj police station limits, around 3 pm, officials said. A fire official »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 More reports, pages 2, 7 l IrAN sEcurEs 0-0 DrAw AgAINsT BELgIuM From herding sheep to cleaning cars and streets to Iran’s hero now EXPRESS AT World Cup Sandip G New Jersey, June 22 tHe BelgiUM forwards must have been spooked by iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get anything past his elastic, ever so re- Iran’s goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand made seven saves to record a clean sheet against Belgium on sunday. aP liable giant fists. At one time during their World Cup group game in los Angelesonsunday,whichended in a 0-0 draw, the Belgium star, KevinDeBruyne,stoodstunned when iran’s hero for the day saved a close-range shot hammered at him by Maxim De Cuyper. When De Cuyper took the shot from a deflection that fellathisfeet,Alirezaslippedand was wrong-footed. Yet, the iraniansomehowstretchedouthis left hand and palmed the ball awayfromdanger. if not a footballer, Alireza may have made it big as a gymnast. But such has been his life »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai