Attacks – Journalists
In a heinous attack in broad daylight, journalist Sneha Barve was beaten with a wooden rod till she became unconscious while she was reporting on illegal construction activity in a riverbed in a town near Pune on July 4, 2025. Till the first week of September 2025, the main accused, Pandurang Sakharam Morde, a local businessperson with political connections, had not been arrested.
The video of the chilling attack began with Barve, founder-editor of Samarth Bharat newspaper and SBP YouTube channel, speaking on video about illegal construction activity on a riverbed in Nigothwadi village near Manchar town in Pune district of Maharashtra. Suddenly, Morde swiftly raised a wooden rod and hit her repeatedly even as she screamed for help.
Barve was literally pounded with the huge rod till she became unconscious. The cameraperson, Ayaz Sheikh, who continued to record the attack, was also beaten when Morde’s aides realised the attack was being videographed. Bystanders who came to her rescue, were also severely beaten and one’s hand was fractured while another got his nose broken.
