A police driver, Brajesh Tiwary, 40, associated with the Special Branch, attempted suicide after hammering to death his wife Rinki Devi, 35, daughter Khushboo Kumari, 15, and son Badal Kumar, 13, purportedly in a drunken rage at his rented house at Chitragupt Nagar under Sadar police station area on Friday night.

The murders took place so quietly on the first floor the house that Tiwary’s landlord Baldeo Sahu, staying on the ground floor, knew nothing till Tiwary’s sisters told him on reaching Chitragupt Nagar from Pandra, around 20km away, at midnight. The women came to know through Tiwary’s father-in-law Vashist Pandey, who Tiwary himself had called up over phone.

“Tiwary’s father-in-law (Rinki’s father) who lives in Garhwa called up Tiwary’s two sisters who reside at Pandra in Ranchi. The sisters accompanied by their husbands rushed to Chitragupt Nagar on motorcycles, apprehending a quarrel at worst. When they knocked on the landlord’s gate, he had no idea. The landlord took them all on the first floor, where they noticed three bodies and an unconscious Tiwary,” a nearby resident told The Telegraph.

Sadar DSP Deepak Pandey said the police driver had consumed some intoxicant in order to commit suicide. “Tiwari has been admitted to the medicine ward of RIMS and investigation has started. Till he regains his senses and gives a statement, it is difficult to give any conclusive statement. Primary investigation suggests that the murders were a result of a sudden angry outburst (of Tiwary’s). The forensics team sealed the room,” Pandey said.

Landlord Sahu said he was shocked and disbelieving over the whole incident. “The family was a happy one. They have been tenants since one-and-a-half years. I personally never found the husband and wife fighting,” he said.