The tea stall at the rice market in Gardanibagh where the bullet was fired on Tuesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

A middle-aged man was shot at at a tea stall in the busy rice market in Gardanibagh around 10.30am on Tuesday.

The bullet bruised the man’s left thigh and hit a 15-year-old boy, who works as a helper at the tea stall. Sources said police were informed about the inci- dent immediately.

However, residents of the area complained that the cops took almost half-an-hour to arrive at the spot despite it being just 300m from the Gardanibagh police station.

The man, identified as Sanjeev Kumar, works at a government-run girls’ hostel in Gardanibagh. The tea stall helper has been identified as Chandan.

“Every morning, Sanjeev comes to the stall, run by one Sambhu, to have tea. It’s his routine. Today, he was sitting at a corner of the stall and sipping tea when a person came from nowhere and shot at him. Sanjeev was fortunate as he moved away from the spot and the bullet bruised his leg and then got lodged in Chandan’s arm. Both of them started bleeding profusely. The attacker took advantage of the pandemonium and fled. The police were called immediately but they took a lot of time to reach the spot. The duo were rushed to Patna Medical College and Hospital,” a resident of the area said.

The police are yet to take a statement from any of the victims.

“The victims are undergoing treatment and we are yet to take their statements. There could be one theory behind the attack. The attacker must have got angry with Chandan when the tea stall helper asked him to pay for the tea. He might have pulled the trigger but the bullet missed the target and hit Sanjeev. However, this is yet to be confirmed. The police are investigating whether the attacker was already there at the tea stall or came in from elsewhere,” a police officer said.

The incident comes four days after a student, studying at a private coaching institute, was shot dead by criminals while he was riding pillion on a motorbike. The cops, who have managed to prepare a sketch of the possible attacker, have not made any breakthrough in the case so far.