A 56-year-old man allegedly shot dead his wife, but soon afterwards collapsed and died, apparently due to a heart attack, at their residence in Thane city of Maharashtra, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred around 10.15 pm on Friday in Yashwant Nivas building located in Kumbhar Ali of Kalwa, they said.

The victims were identified as Dileep Salvi and his 51-year-old wife Pramila, the police said.

A police official said, "Soon after Salvi returned home on Friday night, an altercation broke out between him and his wife. In a fit of rage, he took out his revolver and fired two rounds at his wife, who died on the spot." Soon afterwards, Salvi collapsed on the ground and died after apparently suffering a heart attack, he said.

Sources close to Salvi said when the latter pointed his revolver at his wife, she raised an alarm and called her son, but before he could arrive at the spot she was dead.

The exact motive behind the killing is being ascertained by the police, the official said.

According to police, Salvi belonged to an influential family in Kalwa as its members are known to be involved in local politics and social activities. A number of civic and other projects are named after his father late Yashwant Rama Salvi.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Ganesh Gawade visited the site after the incident and he is supervising a probe.

The bodies of the couple were sent to a government hospital for post-mortem and an offence is being registered, the police said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.