A 21-year-old man working in a restaurant barely 50 metres from the police reporting room was killed with a sharp-edged weapon early on Monday, police said.

Manish Singh, the son of Sohan Singh, a resident of Kothi village in Kupvi tehsil of Shimla district, was working in a restaurant. The incident took place around 2am when the accused, identified as Satinder Pal, 30, entered the victim’s room and attacked him after an altercation.

Manish rushed to the police assistance room and broke the glass of its door with the same weapon with which he was attacked. “When the victim reached the reporting room, he was bleeding profusely,” said Sadar police station house officer Dharam Sen Negi, adding that the police rushed him to the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

A case of murder was registered against the accused, who belongs to Haryana, the police said, adding that he worked at another restaurant. The accused is suspected to have fled to Chandigarh and a police team is on his trail.

Shimla superintendent of police Sanjeev Gandhi said Satinder Pal would be arrested shortly. Investigation is underway to ascertain the reason for the murder.