A middle-aged teacher of a city public school allegedly killed his wife before slitting his own throat at his Shairfield Colony residence late on Saturday night.

The couple’s two minor sons, who were taken away by their maternal uncle on Saturday night, were fortunately saved.

The incident came to light on Sunday morning when Shishu Ghosh, the teacher’s brother-in-law, visited the house around 9am on Sunday. On finding the house locked from inside and no one responding to his calls, Ghosh immediately alerted Digha police station.

The police rushed to the spot and broke open the main door of the two-storeyed house. While homemaker Anjana alias Anju (35) was found in a pool of blood in a bedroom on the ground floor, Ranjan John alias Ujin’s (40) body was recovered from another bedroom, which was bolted from inside.

The incident happened a day before the marriage anniversary of the John couple, who had shifted to the Shairfield Colony house from Bhagalpur last February.

Ranjan had married Anjana on June 3, 2003. The couple have two sons — Himanshu (8) and Priyanshu (3).

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said Ranjan first murdered his wife and then committed suicide owing to family feud.

The SSP said a suicide note had been recovered from the room from where Ranjan’s body was found. Ranjan, a teacher of English in St Paul’s High School in Digha, wrote in his suicide note: “Maine Anju ko akele mara hain aur swayam ko bhi mar liya hain (I have killed Anju alone and have also killed myself).”

He said a knife with bloodstains on its edge, a blunt iron equipment object used for repair of water pumps and a bloodstained shirt of Ranjan were also recovered from the spot. “The equipment purportedly used for murdering Anjana was also recovered,” the SSP added.

He said Anjana was attacked with the equipment on her forehead causing severe injuries.

“The body was on the floor. After killing his wife, Ranjan tried to wash away the bloodstains on his body, from those in the toilet attached to the room from where his body was recovered,” the SSP said.

The SSP said a forensic team visited the site and gathered samples. “A dog squad was also pressed into service to ascertain the involvement of any outsider in the incident,” Maharaj said, adding that prima facie, the incident was the fallout of some family dispute. “We have gathered scientific evidence, which would be analysed later. But so far, we have not found the involvement of any outsider in the incident. The reasons, which led to the incident, are also being ascertained,” the SSP told The Telegraph.

Ranjan used to teach in a public school at Bhagalpur. Later, he decided to settle in Patna. The couple often used to quarrel over some issue related to the family, they told the police.

Ghosh, who resides in Magistrate Colony, said he had taken both the children to his house after he finding the couple fighting over some property-related issues around 8pm on Saturday.

“When I visited the house on Sunday, I found the main door of the building locked from inside. Apprehending foul play, I alerted the neighbours and informed the police, who rushed to the spot within half-an-hour. The gate was broken in the presence of the police and the couple’s bodies were recovered from two separate rooms,” he said.

Ghosh said the couple’s elder son, Himanshu, studies in Class III in the same school in which his father taught. Anjana was a housewife.

Ghosh, however, blamed his brother-in-laws’ relatives, including his sister, Noorim, and her adopted son, Tarun, for the incident. Tarun was pressuring Ranjan to sell off the house and provide him a share in the property, he alleged.

The assistant superintendent of police (law and order), Vivekanand, said the role of the victims’ relatives would be probed.

An officer associated with the investigation said preliminary investigation suggested that the teacher committed suicide after murdering his wife. “Had the children been present in the house, Ranjan would not have committed the offence,” a neighbour said.

Trying to explain what could have driven Ranjan to commit the crime, Dr Dinesh Kumar, associate professor in the department of psychology, College of Commerce (Patna), said: “Such a incident is a result of acute frustration. Frustration leads to depression and acute depression often results in aggression. An aggressive man often becomes violent. Under such circumstances, the man either indulges in violent activities or causes harm to himself as part of manifestation of his aggression.”

Kumar said the frustration was the fallout of undue expectations. “A man commits suicide while passing through acute emotional stage,’’ he added.

The authorities of St Paul’s High School, however, were not available for comment. However, some teachers of the institution, under the cover of anonymity, said Ranjan was well-behaved and always stuck to his work.

“Since he joined the school recently, he was not too familiar with all the school staff,” a teacher said.