Tanzil Ahmad, deputy superintendent of police, was returning with his wife after attending the wedding function late Saturday night when the assailants on motor bikes shot the couple from close range near Sahaspur town.
Sources said that he was reportedly shot 21 times, and his wife has sustained four bullets. The children were unhurt.
While Tanzil was pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility in Moradabad, his wife Farzana is critical and battling for her life, a senior official said.
She is admitted at a hospital in Noida.
NIA officials from Lucknow has rushed to the scene to further probe the incident.