Marked man?

Jesse Singh, says he believes someone might have hired a hit man to kill him.

Singh, the owner of Ambar India on Ludlow Avenue, says a competing restaurant could be to blame.

“Could it be?” said Cincinnati Police Department Capt. David Bailey. “It meets the motive for that, yes. I can’t substantiate the claim, but it’s a possibility given that there was no robbery.”

Sunday, Sept. 13, began like any other day for Singh, but ended with a night he will never forget.

At approximately 10 p.m., Singh closed his restaurant for the night and walked alone to his car.

With the car in drive, he turned to put on his seat belt and came face-to-face with a man at his passenger-side window.

“His face was like a stone ­– a motionless face,” Singh said. “He had wide-open eyes – just a stone, motionless face.”

The suspect pointed a gun at Singh and fired two shots: The first shot went through his nose and exited through his left cheek. The second shot shattered his right humerus and dislocated his right shoulder.

The suspect ran after firing, and Singh stumbled out of his car onto the lot and struggled to lift his body off the pavement with his left arm, trying to seek help.

Blood poured from his head and out of his arm, leaving a trail across the parking lot. Singh ran as best as he could to nearby Olive’s Restaurant where he then fell in the doorway, prompting the owner to call 9-1-1.

Singh spent approximately 10 days in the hospital before traveling to India to visit concerned relatives and friends.

“I just think what happened to him is crazy,” said Grace Burklow, a third-year marketing student. “It must be true that they’re the best restaurant if people are trying to kill him.”

Ambar has received several awards over the years, including being “Highly Recommended” and the “Best of City Search” in 2005 and 2006. The establishment also received a 9.9 rating and 4-star rating by City’s Best 2006.

The businessman from Punjab, India, isn’t the only person who thinks his restaurant serves the best Indian food in town. Families, doctors on lunch breaks, professors and students frequent Ambar for their unique dishes.

“I’ve always loved Ambar India,” Burklow said. “They have great food, good service and amazing chicken tikka masala.”

Singh says he’s just a simple, hard-working family man, surprised by the outpouring of support and love that he received from the community after the shooting.

“I never thought people loved me so much, cared so much, you know?” Singh said. “Customers came in and asked to see me, and many people from the community brought flowers or sent cards.”

Although Singh does not know who might have hired the alleged hit man, he does acknowledge the existence of the rumored competition between the local Indian restaurants.

“Yes, there’s a competition,” Singh said. “There have been times when I brought in really good chefs from India, helped them get situated legally, you know, just really tried to help them. But then other restaurants would offer my chefs more money to work for them once they got here.”

Prior to the shooting, Singh said his restaurant only endured small-scale crime: one of his employees was robbed at the an ATM inside the restaurant, the building was vandalized and a small fight once broke out between one of his employees and employees from a neighboring restaurant.

“We started in 1994, and Amol India next door moved in around 1996 or 1997,” Singh said. “The owner and I wave and say ‘hi’ to each other when we see each other, but ever since those people moved in, things haven’t been so smooth.”

Other restaurants declined to comment on the situation.

“There’s no competition,” said the manager of Apna India.

Likewise, the manager of Amol India said “No, we don’t have any competition.”

Both Singh’s restaurant and his outlook on life have been altered since that September night.

“Since the shooting I’ve changed a lot,” Singh said. “I was ready to leave to go back to India, but in life you go through circumstances and we’ll face them. I also look around a lot more – when I leave my house, spend time at the restaurant and even driving. I’m always looking behind my back and try not to go out at night anymore. I don’t want people to know where I am.”

Ambar employees now leave in groups, new indoor and outdoor security cameras have been installed.

While the crime remains unsolved, Singh said he would recognize the suspect if they ever cross paths again. He can’t forget those eyes.

Any information that could lead to the arrest of the suspected shooter could be rewarded with $3,000. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040. Calls can remain anonymous.

“Maybe other restaurant owners think I’m running all of the restaurants, and that they can’t succeed while I’m doing that,” Singh said. “Maybe they thought if I died, all the restaurants under my supervision would be gone so they wouldn’t have to struggle to compete with them.”