Shyamlal Yadav and Sandeep Singh were declared winners of the Asian College of Journalism’s Award for Investigative Journalism 2021. The winning entry titled ‘Ayodhya land deals’, published in The Indian Express newspaper in December 2021, investigates the wrongdoings of families of public officials bought land after the apex court verdict, all within a 5-km radius of the Ram temple site.

The final jury comprising Ayaz Memon (Chairperson), Swapna Sundar and Harsha Subramaniam chose the winners from shortlisted entries.

The award, which comprises a trophy, a citation and INR 200,000/- in prize money, was presented to the winner by the Chief Guest  Ayaz Memon, Senior Journalist and Columnist, at the Convocation of the ACJ Class of 2022.

Other stories that were considered as final nominations and have been awarded special mentions by the jury (in no particular order) are as follows:

  • An investigative series into the deaths due to covid by Rukmini S published in Scroll, The Hindu and India Spend.
  • The Foreigner by Makepeace Sithlou and Prakash Bhuyan published in Fifty Two.

The jury’s citation read as follows:

“The jury unanimously chose the investigation into the land deals in Ayodhya by Shyamlal Yadav and Sandeep Singh published in The Indian Express.

This series exposes how elected representatives and relatives of government officials rushed to buy land in Ayodhya hoping to make hefty gains after the Supreme Court verdict. The follow-up report unearths blatant irregularities in how land parcels were purchased from Dalit villagers at a throwaway price. The work of these two journalists leads to a probe by the State Government and, eventually, a court order quashing the original land transfer.

This is a stellar example of journalism done right. One that relentlessly pursues the truth and holds public servants accountable to law. These stories raise pertinent questions of conflict of interest and impropriety by those who hold high offices. Above all, these stories provide confidence that journalism in public interest continues to thrive in India, despite many pressures.

We commend Shyamlal Yadav, Sandeep Singh and The Indian Express for this outstanding work.”