After shooting his colleagues, the accused turned the gun on himself and suffered serious injuries.

A school teacher allegedly shot dead two colleagues at a government school in Jharkhand’s Godda district over a “love affair”, PTI reported on Tuesday, citing the police.

After shooting his colleagues, the accused, Ravi Ranjan (42), turned the gun on himself and suffered serious injuries.

The deceased were identified as Sujata Mishra (35), a resident of Poraiyahat, and Adarsh Singh (40), who hailed from Chandoli in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, the incident took place at the Chatra Upgraded School in the Poraiyahat area, around 300 km from Ranchi, during school hours around 11 am, a senior police officer said.

“The bodies of two teachers, including a woman, were found lying in a pool of blood in a room at the school, while the accused teacher was also found seriously injured,” Godda Superintendent of Police Nathu Singh Meena told PTI.

Meena added that the students and teachers of the school heard the gunshots, and rushed to the room but found it was locked from inside. They then informed the police.

“The police reached the spot and broke open the door but by then both the teachers, who were shot in their heads, had died. The accused teacher tried to die by suicide by shooting himself on the right side of his head,” Meena added.

“Prima facie, it seems to be a case of a love affair. According to villagers and school students, both the male teachers had alleged romantic relationships with the woman teacher,” the officer said, according to PTI.

According to the police, Ranjan shot three bullets at Singh and one bullet at Mishra.

Two country-made pistols were seized from the place of occurrence but only one pistol was used in the shooting. The injured teacher is undergoing treatment at Godda’s Sadar hospital and is in a serious condition.