Shahjahanpur (UP): A man killed his four minor children by slitting their throats after which he hanged himself in Roza area of Shahjahanpur district here in Uttar Pradesh, police said here on Thursday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Dwivedi said that Rajiv Kumar (36), a resident of Manpur Chachari village, killed his daughters Smriti (13), Kirti (9), Pragati (7) and son Rishabh (5) by slitting their throats with a sharp weapon in his own house on Wednesday night. "After killing the children, he went to another room of the house and committed suicide by hanging himself," he said.

He said that when questioned Prithviraj told that on Thursday morning when the door of Rajiv's gate did not open till late, he climbed the roof and went inside the house through the staircase. "Then he came to know about the incident and then he informed the police," he said.

The SP said that Prithviraj told that Rajiv had an accident a year ago due to which he had a severe head injury and was still undergoing treatment. "Due to this, he often used to get angry and on Wednesday, Rajiv's wife also went to her maternal home. On asking the reason, the deceased's father said that they live in a separate house and he does not know why she went," he said.

He said that the deceased Rajiv had killed his four children with a sharp weapon. "Before that, he had also sharpened the weapon with sandpaper. The police have recovered the sandpaper and the sharp weapon from the crime scene," he said.