Balangir: A man allegedly hacked his wife to death with an axe and committed suicide by hanging himself using a towel in Bhalumunda village in Bangomunda police limits on Sunday night.

Police recovered the body of the deceased, Kapurchand Bachha, 55, and his wife Kaikai Bachha,45, from their Colonypada house on Monday morning. Kapurchand was found hanging and his wife was lying in a pool of blood in a nearby room.

The police suspect that family dispute could be the reason behind the murder, though the exact reason is still not known. The police have registered a case and begun investigation. A source said the couple had frequent disputes and about two months ago Kapurchand's wife left home to live with her parents. She returned three days ago on last Friday.

The source said everything seemed to be normal as they had food together before going to sleep. But late in the night Kapurchand hacked her wife with an axe which led her to death. After that Kapurchand also hang himself using a towel. The matter came to light when their daughter in-law Sangeeta Bachha found them dead in the morning. Sangeeta said: "We don't know how and why it happened. We were in a different room. I only found them dead in the morning and told the villagers."