PALGHAR: An octogenarian man allegedly killed his 74-year-old wife by stabbing her with a knife and then slit his wrist in a bid to commit suicide in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Monday.

The man, aged 81, and his wife had been ailing for a long time and this might have prompted him to take the extreme step, an official from the police control room said without elaborating on their health issues.

The incident took place on Saturday evening at the couple's home in Vasai area.

The man allegedly stabbed to death his wife with a kitchen knife and then slit his wrist with it, the official said.

The couple's son, who had gone out, found the door locked from inside on return. He broke open the door and found his mother lying in a pool of blood and his father in an injured condition.

The woman was found dead and the man was rushed to a hospital where he is battling for life, the official said.

The body was sent to a government hospital for postmortem and a case registered against the man under section 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the police said.