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Shiv Sainiks on Wednesday assaulted a reporter of the Asian Age near the Elphinstone Road railway station objecting to his covering the bandh called by trade unions, Left parties and the Shiv Sena to condemn the economic reform policies of the NDA government at the Centre.
The reporter, Vaibhav Purandare, was travelling in an office car along with two other reporters, covering the bandh, when he was attacked.
About 40-50 Shiv Sainiks accosted them and first assaulted the driver of the car.
When Vaibhav identified himself as a mediaperson, the Sainiks told him that only the Saamna, the Sena mouthpiece, would be brought out on Thursday and assaulted him.
Vaibhav had to be admitted to KEM Hospital in Parel where he was operated upon for his injuries.
Incidentally, Vaibhav has to his credit a book on the Shiv Sena - The Sena Story - which was released by Sena chief Bal Thackeray himself.
The attack on Vaibhav was the second such incident in the area. While he was assaulted at around 1100 hours (IST), Nitin Sapre, who works for Doordarshan, faced a similar fate just an hour earlier, which he did not report to the authorities.
With inputs from PTI
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