Yusuff Ali M. A.

In 2025, public interest litigation before the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenged land allocations to LuLu Group in Visakhapatnam and subsequently Vijayawada, criticising, among other matters, the price, alleged absence of competitive tendering and Coastal Regulation Zone questions. The High Court sought government responses and issued notices to LuLu Group.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

The LuLu Mall project in Thrissur was challenged over plots listed as paddy fields/wetlands. In August 2025, the Kerala High Court overturned an administrative reclassification decision because mandatory procedural steps had not been properly followed and ordered a fresh examination.

On 30 December 2025, the Income Tax Department had LuLu Mall Lucknow's accounts frozen over a tax demand of approximately 27 crore rupees. LuLu replied that it had addressed the notices, disputed the demand as unjustified and invoked a High Court order of 22 April 2025 prohibiting coercive measures pending examination of the case; an appeal and application for a stay were reported as pending.

State of the evidence

Documented

In March 2023, several Indian media outlets reported that the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Yusuff Ali M. A. as part of the LIFE Mission investigation in Kerala. LuLu Group and Yusuff Ali publicly called the reports false and said they had received no such summons.

State of the evidence

Denied by the person

Attribution

Directly implicated

Yusuff Ali sued the Marunadan Malayalee portal and its publisher after years of posts he considered defamatory. In 2023, the Delhi High Court ordered removal of content and provisionally prohibited further defamatory publications about him.

In February 2023, Lucknow Municipal Corporation issued a notice to LuLu Mall demanding 5.75 crore rupees in property tax for 2022–2023. The municipality considered that the exemption period applicable to the new township had expired and that the mall was now taxable.

State of the evidence

Documented

Days after LuLu Mall Lucknow opened, a video of several men performing Muslim prayers inside the shopping centre triggered protests by Hindu groups, boycott calls and allegations that the mall favoured Muslims in recruitment. Other activists attempted to organise Hindu prayers there. The shopping centre stated that religious activities were not permitted on its premises and rejected accusations of employment bias.

State of the evidence

Documented

A complainant sought an investigation into Yusuff Ali's alleged role in the diplomatic-channel gold-smuggling case, relying in particular on an email/NOC. On 26 March 2021, the Kerala High Court found prima facie that the letter cited had no connection to the smuggling and that the challenged order mentioned no other evidence linking Yusuff Ali to the request to re-export the gold; it stayed the magistrate's directions.

State of the evidence

Alleged

Attribution

Directly implicated