Chinsurah, June 10: Unidentified assailants hammered to pulp the head of a retired Hindustan Motors mechanic and then fired at him before killing his wife and 22-year-old son, the macabre triple-murder sparking suspicion that revenge was the motive.

Police said a group of men last night barged into the house of Shekhar Prasad Sharma, 58, in Dankuni’s Raghunathpur-Mansatala village.

“They first smashed Sharma’s head with a hammer and then fired at him. They also hacked to death his wife Gayatri, 50, and son Munna, 22, before escaping,” said K.P. Barui, the sub-divisional police officer of Hooghly.

“Revenge seems to be the motive behind the murders, going by the brutality,” Barui added.

One of the Sharmas’ neighbours today found the three lying dead in a pool of blood in their bedroom around 9am.

Sharma, who was from Bihar, had been living in the Dankuni village, about 30km from Calcutta, with his wife and son since his retirement in 2001.

Sharma’s neighbours said that, of late, he had come into money.

The police have found two new cellphones and a DVD player in Sharma’s house. He had also recently constructed a marble-fitted bathroom. “We are investigating how he suddenly got the money to afford all these luxuries. His neighbours have accused him of having a murky lifestyle,” Barui said.

The police have not yet been able to contact any of Sharma’s relatives.