January 12, 2005
By PAT GROSSMITH
Union Leader Staff

MANCHESTER - A customer, irate at the cost of a cigar, hit a 7-Eleven store clerk in the face with a metal display rack Monday night, seriously injuring him, police said.

Rana Ansarul, a night clerk at the 234 Mammoth Road store for the past three years, was taken to the Elliot Hospital and treated for facial injuries.

Acting manager Bibhuti Thapa yesterday said the assailant, who is not believed to be a regular customer, wanted to buy a single cigar instead of a five-pack box, which costs $2.39. She said the store will sell a single cigar from the box, but the price is 85 cents.

Thapa said Ansarul told her the customer became angry when told the price and said he was not going to pay it.

Police said the man began throwing merchandise around the store and, before he fled, grabbed a metal display rack from in front of the check-out counter and hit Ansarul with it.

The assault, which happened about 11:30 p.m., was caught on tape by the store's video surveillance cameras.

Authorities said the assailant, when caught, will be facing a second-degree assault charge, a felony.

Ansarul is not expected to be back to work for several days, said Thapa. She and another employee took him home after he received medical treatment. Ansarul normally works seven nights a week.

"His face is totally destroyed," she said. Thapa said both his upper and lower lips were split, requiring stitches, and two front teeth were knocked out in the assault.

Employees threw out the blood-covered, heavy metal rack, Thapa said.

The attacker is described as a white man between 25 and 30 years old, 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-8, with a heavy build. He was wearing a light-colored sweatshirt.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 668-8711 or Manchester Crimeline at 624-4040.
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