Srinagar, Feb. 2: A love-struck grandfather apparently bludgeoned a tourist guide to death in a Leh village to make room to re-ignite an old affair he had with the man’s wife.

Police said 65-year-old Manla Tundum sprang on Ringzin Dorge, 60, inside his bedroom and killed him by hitting him on the head with a crude weapon. Tundum had sneaked in when Dorge and his wife were out.

Dorge’s wife Tsering Dolkar was in another room in their Mangu village home at the time of the murder. The 55-year-old told police Tundum had been “madly following her” over the past two years.

“She is not involved in the murder and was in an adjoining room. When she heard cries, she rushed to the bedroom and found her husband in a pool of blood,” Mandip Kaur, the sub-divisional police officer of Leh, said.

The December 31 murder has shocked residents of Mangu who were aware of the “relationship” between Tundum and Dolkar. Mangu is some 100km from Leh town and about 530km from Srinagar.

“During questioning of the two, we learnt they had an old love affair which had begun some years after their marriage. It continued for several years but the woman later distanced herself,” Mehraj Khalid, the Leh station house officer, said. “Tundum again started chasing her some two years ago after his wife died, but Dolkar was reluctant this time.”

Tundum, frail and tall, has two married sons, both of whom stay separate. Dolkar has five children, four of whom are married. Both Tundum and Dolkar have grandchildren.

Khalid said the death was initially passed off as an accident. “We received a report on January 1 about a suspicious death. During investigations, we were told the man had fallen down the stairs and died.”

He said the police began to sniff something was amiss after the post-mortem report listed multiple injuries to Dorge’s head. Mangu villagers then tipped them off about the “infamous affair”.

Tundum, who was a shopkeeper till a few years ago, is now in judicial custody.