Morena: An ex-serviceman allegedly killed his wife and then committed suicide by turning his licensed pistol on himself after a dispute in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena city early Tuesday morning, police said.

Before killing himself, he also aimed the gun at his two teenage sons while they were lying on a bed at home, but they managed to save themselves by running out of the house, an official said.

Devendra Singh (45) retired as a hawaldar from the Army five years back and was financially sound, one of his sons said.

Preliminary investigations suggested Singh had some dispute with his wife in the wee hours following which they manhandled each other. The man then allegedly shot his wife Madhuri (43) with his licensed revolver at around 4 am, City Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhadoria said.

Singh subsequently pointed the gun at his sons, who managed to push him off and run outside the house, the official said.

The duo later heard a gun shot following which they rushed back to find their father lying on the floor, the police said.

While Singh died on the spot, some neighbours took his wife to a hospital in Gwalior where she succumbed, the official said.

The family members informed police that Singh used to take sleeping pills, which have been seized and sent for an examination.

Singh had a two-storey house and two plots in Morena. He was working as a security guard at a warehouse in Dholpur town in neighbouring Rajasthan, his son said.

He also informed police that after pushing their father, he and his brother rushed to the ground floor of the house, bolted the door from outside and informed their maternal uncle about the incident.

The exact reason behind the incident was not yet clear and police were conducting a probe into it, Civil Lines police station in-charge Darshan Lal Shukla said.

A case was registered in connection with the incident, the police added.