Cricket bat assault: Police arrest absconding accused in playground feud

Aged 30, a man who had thrashed two brothers using a cricket bat was arrested by the police on Sunday. Notably, a fight erupted over the issue of playground space leading to the incident. The police authorities of Bangur Nagar revealed that Mohammad Hashib aka Pappu Latif Raine, who is the accused in the matter, had fled and remained absconded for nearly a year. Notably, the accused was said to be in a hideout in Mumbai's Goregaon.

The victims of the case were Dinesh Maruti Pachkale and his younger brother, Chandrashekar Pachkale, who are aged 22 years and 21 years, respectively. While Dinesh works in a private firm, Chandrasekar works in the construction field as a supervisor. Both brothers are said to be living in Sundar Nagar of Malad East region. Speaking of the incident, the duo was playing cricket with their friends in Shankarwadi's Laxmi Park, on January 22, last year. Around 5 in the evening, another group arrived at the same venue, but they started playing in another part of the ground.

However, after a while, Hashib from the other group, walked up to Dinesh and demanded to leave the playing area. To which Dinesh denied his demand, thereby leading to an argument. At that point, Chandrasekar interrupted between them in a bid to solve the matter. But things took a wild turn as soon after the argument, three friends of Hashib attacked the Pachkale brothers. While they were already beaten up, Hashib also joined the group and beat both of them using a bat.

As a result, Dinesh suffered some serious injuries on his head and chest and he was rushed to the Parvati Chavan Hospital (Sai Clinic) to get treated by a doctor. While Dinesh needed to be admitted to the medical facility, Chandrasekar needed basic first aid as he did not sustain any grave injuries, unlike his elder brother.

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Later on, as per Hindustan Times (HT), based on Dinesh's complaint, the Bangur Nagar police took the matter into their own hands and lodged an FIR (First Investigation Report) against an unknown accused under 323, 324 and 307 sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). For the unversed, section 323 is associated with a deliberate attempt to hurt someone, while 324 is in the provision of law for causing unruly mischief. Lastly, section 307 is associated with an "attempt to commit murder."

Accused sent to police custody after initial court hearing

While the investigation was on, police identified Hashib and came to know that he had disappeared after getting to know that an FIR was registered against him after the incident. Consequently, the police launched a search operation and eventually after a year duration, they nabbed him from Goregaon, on Sunday, January 19, 2025. After his arrest, the police produced him in the local court of Borivali region the next day. After the hearing, Hashib was sent on police remand.