LUCKNOW: Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday expressed grief over the death of his stepbrother Prateek Yadav, who died in Lucknow under mysterious circumstances at the age of 38.In a post on X, Akhilesh Yadav wrote, “The passing of Shri Prateek Yadav Ji is extremely sad! May God grant peace to the departed soul. Humble tribute!”Speaking to reporters, Akhilesh Yadav said, “I have known him since childhood. He is no longer amongst us; it is a matter of great sorrow. Right from his childhood, he was very conscious of his health, his physical well-being and he aspired to move forward in life and make a meaningful contribution.”He added, “Naturally, we will proceed in accordance with the law, whatever legal provisions dictate, and whatever the family members request, we will abide by that. I met him approximately two months ago. Even at that time, I had advised him to take care of his health and to focus on expanding his business. Sometimes losses incurred in business can cause people to become deeply distressed. He is no longer with us; we will pursue whatever legal avenues are available to us.“Prateek Yadav, husband of BJP leader Aparna Yadav, was brought to Lucknow’s Civil Hospital around 6 am on Wednesday by Aparna’s brother Aman Singh Bisht, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.According to Civil Hospital CMS Dr D.C. Pandey, Prateek had no pulse when he was brought in and his heart had stopped functioning. Authorities said the exact cause of death would be known only after the postmortem examination.His body was later sent to King George’s Medical University for autopsy. Officials said a chest X-ray was conducted before the postmortem, which is being carried out by a medical team headed by Dr Mausami Singh. Heavy police deployment was seen outside the mortuary during the procedure.Sources said Prateek had earlier been admitted to a private hospital on April 30 after his health condition deteriorated. Though his condition reportedly improved after a few days, he is said to have returned home without formally taking discharge.Aparna Yadav, who was in Assam at the time, rushed back to Lucknow after receiving news of her husband’s death.Prateek was the son of late Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his second wife Sadhna Gupta. Despite belonging to one of Uttar Pradesh’s most influential political families, he largely stayed away from electoral politics and focused on business ventures.An alumnus of the University of Leeds in the UK, Prateek ran a fitness centre in Lucknow called “The Fitness Planet” and was also associated with an animal welfare initiative, “Jeev Ashray”, which worked for the care and rescue of stray dogs.Prateek and Aparna married in December 2011 in Saifai, Etawah, in a high-profile ceremony attended by several prominent personalities, including Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. The couple had known each other since 2001 and have two daughters.The couple had briefly made headlines earlier this year after Prateek publicly announced plans to seek divorce from Aparna over personal differences. However, the issue was resolved within days, and the two were later seen together during family events.Condolences continued to pour in from across political circles following the news of his death. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath also expressed grief over Prateek Yadav’s demise.
