The innocuous act of asking a customer to wait for his turn to buy jalebis proved costly for a 35-year-old worker at the popular Bangla Sweets in the busy Gole Market area on Tuesday evening. He was shot at by a cash van security guard.

The victim, Satender Singh, who has been working at the shop for the past eight years, was allegedly shot in the head by the guard.

Singh is battling for life at the Sucheta Kripalani Hospital.

According to police, accused Neeraj Kumar (28), who was arrested at the spot later, had come to the shop to buy jalebis.He allegedly got into a fight with Singh who asked him to stand in a queue as there were other customers who had already placed their orders.

“Singh asked Kumar to stand in a queue to buy sweets but he refused to listen. Instead he started an argument with him. Things soon got out of hand and Kumar pulled out a pistol from his pocket and shot at Singh,” a senior police officer said.

A nearby Police Control Room van rushed to the spot and took the victim to hospital. The accused was arrested at the spot and a case under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against him, said the officer.

The officer added that they have also collected the closed-circuit-television camera footage from the restaurant that shows the accused firing.

Surprisingly, despite the incident taking place in the presence of many of Singh’s co-workers and his employers, almost everyone present at the shop’s counters maintained that they were not witness to the crime. Some employees said there was a change of shift and that they came there after the incident.