Santhosh Kumar, a contractor, used to pick up quarrels with his wife Jaya Suhashini, which led the wife to move to parents' house in Salem.
However, she along with her two children returned to the city yesterday and was living in her father in law's house.
Learning about the return of his wife and children, Santhosh managed to convince and took them in a car last night, police said.
After dropping the children in his relatives', he took his wife for a long ride and started quarreling, which ended in the man removing a knife and stabbing on the neck, resulting in Suhasini's death, police said.