A 68-year-old man committed suicide when he thought he had beaten his wife to death at their home in Saraswathi Nagar in Vijayanagar on Tuesday night.

Girish, a retired employee of ESI Hospital beat his wife Gowramma, 59, and when she was unconscious he thought she was dead and hanged himself. Gowramma later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital.

Around 8.30 pm, the couple had an altercation and Girish assaulted Gowramma. Girish picked up an iron rod and hit his wife on the head repeatedly. She fell unconscious and bled profusely. Girish thought she was dead and went to the bedroom and hung himself from the ceiling with a saree.

The incident came to light around 9 pm, when their son Darshan returned home from work and saw his mother lying in a pool of blood and then found his father hanging. He informed the police and rushed his mother to a nearby hospital. She did not respond to the treatment and succumbed to injuries, said the police.

Investigations showed that the couple fought frequently over personal issues. Girish was depressed about the family’s financial problems. Girish was unhappy about taking medicines for an injury he suffered recently and quarrelled with his wife and son. On Tuesday night too, neighbours heard the couple scream at each other, said the police.