A senior manager of the state-run National Bank of Pakistan was killed by the bank’s security guard over the allegation of “blasphemy” in Punjab province, police said on Thursday.

Malik Imran Hanif, manager of the multinational commercial bank’s Quaidabad tehsil in Khushab, 250km from Lahore, was shot by the bank’s security guard Ahmed Nawaz, a retired soldier, on Wednesday morning.

The deceased’s family said that it was a “cold-blooded murder” by the accused over a personal grudge, claiming that the guard took the cover of blasphemy to save himself.

The manager was shifted to Lahore’s Services Hospital in a critical condition where he died of his injuries on Thursday, the police said, adding that Nawaz has been arrested.

According to senior police officer Tariq Wilayat, Nawaz claimed that he opened fire at Hanif after he committed blasphemy.

“This claim cannot be verified at this stage. Police are probing the matter from all the aspects including the statement of the deceased’s family that Nawaz killed him to settle a personal grudge against him,” the officer said.

Hanif’s family said that Nawaz was fired a few months ago but he was subsequently reinstated. He nursed a grudge over his sacking.

Muhammad Razzak, another guard of the bank, said that after completing his nightshift, he was changing his uniform when he heard the gunshots. “I rushed towards the bank office where I found Hanif in a pool of blood and Nawaz fleeing,” he said.