A 40-year-old man allegedly killed his wife before committing suicide by hanging himself at their home in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in Kudumkela-Nawadih village under the Gharghoda police station limits on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, an official said.

Panchram Manjhi allegedly killed his wife, Dharamkumari (34), by slitting her throat with a sharp weapon while she was asleep in their bedroom before hanging himself from the ceiling, he said.

Manjhi's 76-year-old mother and the couple's children, aged five and two years, were sleeping in another room in the house at the time, the official said.

Manjhi's mother alerted the police about the deaths on Monday morning, he said.

According to his mother, Manjhi had been suffering from a mental ailment for the last three years and had previously attempted suicide by jumping into a well, the official said.

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