Now Reading: Neetu Bhardwaj accuses Abhishek Upmanyu, Urooj Ashfaq of harassment
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Neetu Bhardwaj accuses Abhishek Upmanyu, Urooj Ashfaq of harassment
The Story in Brief
Comedian Neetu Bhardwaj has alleged on Instagram that fellow comedians Abhishek Upmanyu and Urooj Ashfaq have been following her and her family in Mumbai, hacking their phones and social media accounts. She called them the ‘Mumbai comedy mafia’ and said venues were being approached to block her from performing. Bhardwaj also accused Shashwat Maheshwari of accessing her accounts since 2022 and claimed material from her lost diary had been used in the comedy specials of Upmanyu and Ashfaq.
In separate posts, Bhardwaj said a suitcase containing her original comedy material went missing after a trip to Bengaluru in 2025. She also posted on 24 October a picture of a broken laptop, alleging someone had entered her home and damaged the device. Neither ABP Live nor Livemint could independently verify the allegations.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both ABP Live and Livemint report the same allegations by comedian Neetu Bhardwaj against Abhishek Upmanyu, Urooj Ashfaq and Shashwat Maheshwari, covering harassment, hacked accounts and copied jokes. The coverage is uniform straight reporting: neither outlet adds independent verification or editorial comment, and both present Bhardwaj's claims as unverified public social-media posts. ABP Live includes her more extreme allegations about a satanic cult and religious humiliation, which Livemint omits, and also dates a broken-laptop incident to 24 October. Livemint stays closer to the core allegations of stalking and joke theft. The key open question remains whether any of the named comedians or authorities will respond to the claims, but neither source names any next step.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): abplive.com (neutral report), livemint.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
