Cricketer hacked to death in Mumbai

Rakesh Pawar, a local Mumbai cricketer and a popular coach, was brutally hacked to death near the Mahavir petrol pump on the Lal Bahadur Shastri Road in Bhandup.

The incident took place around 11.45 pm 00.30 am on the intervening night of Thursday-Friday. Senior police officials said that three persons brutally attacked him with choppers and iron rod.

He was rushed to Mulund general hospital by the employees of the petrol pump, where he was pronounced dead on admission.

"The victim has suffered gruesome injuries on his face and head, and was lying in a pool of blood," the officials said. The Bhandup police station has registered a case.

He was reportedly accompanied by a female friend, whose statement is being recorded.

The police have secured the CCTV footage of the petrol pump to check on the identity of the three assailants.

Pawar, a district-level cricketer, who was in his mid-thirties, used to coach kids from Bhandup, Mulund and Thane. He is survived by wife and two children.