MADURAI: A man committed

suicide

in

district of

, a few days after he came to know that his wife had staged a gold

theft drama.

Vincent, 59, of Periyaselvam Nagar was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in his home on Wednesday morning. The Thalamuthu Nagar police retrieved the body and sent it for postmortem.

“No suicide note was found. But during inquiries, we came to know that he took the extreme step due to depression over the fact that his wife had stolen 100 sovereigns of jewellery,” Tuticorin district superintendent of police Arun Balagopalan said.

Vincent, who worked at Tuticorin port, and his wife were staying alone in their home. Their two daughters are married.

His wife feared that her husband might not give the due share of jewellery to their daughters. She gave him sleeping pills on Thursday night. She then hid 100 sovereigns of

jewellery and some cash in a pit she had dug on a piece of vacant land close to their home. The next morning, she gave an impression that the jewellery had been stolen. But during police inquiries, she admitted to having hidden the jewellery and cash.

A case was registered against the woman, but she was not arrested.

Following the incident, one of their daughters came to live with them. On Tuesday night, Vincent sent the daughter to her home and took the extreme step.

Police said there had been disputes between the couple over the years.