Ranchi, April 19: He killed his wife ?accidentally? last night while shooting at intruders, sub-inspector Anil Kumar Singh claimed today.

The elaborate explanation failed to cut any ice though as circumstantial evidence pointed at the heavily drunk policeman shooting his wife thrice with his service revolver. Only one of the bullets hit her but it turned out to be fatal. Fresh scratch marks on his face, said the police, indicated that Singh shot his wife in a fit of rage.

The couple has two daughters: the elder, Shruti, studies law in Pune, and the younger Swati is preparing for the joint entrance test. They were married around 25 years ago and the wife, Kamini, was clearly a popular figure in the small Shreya enclave, three km off the Bariatu main road.

The most damning evidence against the policeman, however, came from the younger daughter. Swati told police that she was studying in her room on the first floor and could overhear her parents quarrelling in the next room around 11 pm. Soon she heard three shots ring out and hurried to find her mother lying in the bed in a pool of blood and her father sitting with the revolver in his hands.

Her screams brought the neighbours rushing in and they eventually called the police around midnight. The 1984 batch sub-inspector was immediately put under arrest.

Neighbours also informed the police that Swati had occasionally complained about the troubled home and the growing differences between her parents. A neighbourhood girl recalled her saying that her elder sister was lucky as she stayed away in Pune.

Neighbours also said that of late the couple was no longer seen together. Anil, they said, was reserved and kept to himself. He seldom showed any interest in socialising with neighbours. The wife, on the other hand, was warm, outgoing and helpful. ?She was different,? acknowledged a neighbour. ?We have seen her feeding destitutes.?

What can also go against the policeman is a case pending against him for sexual harassment. The case was apparently lodged by his sister-in-law and it was a black spot in his otherwise clean career record, claimed colleagues.

The policeman stuck to his story that a group of intruders had entered their bedroom on the first floor, demanded keys to the cupboard and began misbehaving with his wife. He fired in self-defence, he claimed, and said he had made no attempt to escape.

Policemen appeared sympathetic and claimed that Singh, a journalist with an English daily in Patna before he joined the police, was known to be serious, earnest and meticulous in his work. But a serious accident last year, the court case and his transfer to the traffic police station added up to his stress. He hit the bottle, they claimed, to drown his frustration.

The deceased?s father and brother, both doctors at Maithon and in Nepal respectively, have been informed.