The incident took place at around 12.30 pm, when Punjabi (45) was leaving his Manish Towers residence. As the Tata Sierra in which Punjabi was seated approached the residential complex's gate, two of the three assailants stopped the car and opened fired indiscriminately at him.

Police informed that the assailants fired 16 rounds at Punjabi from a close range. Four bullets pierced his skull, and the others were lodged in his shoulder, chest and stomach.

One of the bullets richocheted in the car and hit Punjabi's driver Brigmohan Jaiswal's right leg.

Eyewitnesses said the assailants had come to the spot on foot and walked away from the scene of crime. They were seen walking up to a distance of nearly 100 meters before they melted into the crowd.

Deputy commissioner ofpolice (crime) Param Bir Singh said empty cartridges of two weapons, a 7.63 mm calibre pistol and a .45 revolver, have been recovered from the spot.

Punjabi was rushed to Cooper Hospital, but was declared dead before admission. Jaiswal, one of the key witnesses, was in a state of shock and couldn't provide any information to police till around 6.15 pm.

The watchman of Punjabi's building and a hawker are the other key witnesses. Police have provided them with security cover.

One of the assailants has been identified as lean and wearing a pair of jeans and a grey tee shirt.

Police are yet to ascertain the reason behind the killing, but some police officers suspect it could have been a `supari' killing carried out by the Arun Gawli gang. Other theories police are working on are a dispute over cable rights and extortion.

Tension gripped the Manish Nagar area after news of Punjabi's death spread, and cable operators and people associated with the cable industry turned up in large numbers at CooperHospital.

Punjabi was considered a pioneer in the cable industry. He had launched a small business in cable networking equipments near Opera House in early 1980, and had soon become a cable operator and distributor of cable rights.

In 1988, he formed a four-member consortium Encore with Yogesh Shah, Yogesh Radhakrishna and Jagdish Kohli. The consortium merged in 1994 with the Hindujas to obtain all-India rights for a paid cable network. The two companies are believed to have cornered 60 percent of Mumbai's pay channel market.

Their competitors include Siti Cable, United Cable Network, Balram Cable, Five Star and Seven Star Cable, among others.

A source in the cable industry said the annual revenue from the pay channel is estimated to be nearly Rs 500 crore.

Punjabi is survived by two wives, two sons and two daughters, who are married.