A dismissed air force sergeant, found guilty of murdering his wife and children two years ago, has been sentenced to death by a fast track court in Jodhpur.

The court ordered Anil Vasudeo to be hanged, and referred the case to the Rajasthan high court for confirmation of the sentence.

In his 52-page judgment on Thursday, Additional Sessions Judge K K Bagri said there was enough circumstantial evidence to prove Vasudeo had hammered his wife Sharmistha, son Nikhil and daughter Deeksha to death on August 28, 2004.

The prosecution said Vasudeo suspected his wife was having a affair with someone else and that the children were not his.

The first information report about the incident was filed by a man named Shaitan Singh, a portion of whose house Vasudeo had rented.

Police had arrested Vasudeo while he was trying to commit suicide and found the bodies of his wife and children in the room.

A defence appeal that Vasudeo suffered from paranoid psychosis and a plea contending family liabilities and the age of his parents was dismissed.