The body of Anand Jain, 45, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house in Lakherapura locality while his two sisters, aged 42 and 36, and 65-year-old mother were found strangled.

Anand left a 10-page note and pasted a small notice on the first-floor window alerting the neighbours about his intentions and to call the police before entering his house through the same window.

The note described that he was having a dream that someone was going to kill him soon and that he was worried about the fate of his family members after him.

While giving details of his property, he said he did not have any debts. The note asked the police not to question any of his relatives saying he had no enmity besides requesting them not to carry out post mortem.

Anand, who traded in gold jewellery, and his sisters Meena and Seema were unmarried. He telephoned his relatives late on Thursday asking them to be in Bhopal on Friday morning for marriage-related shopping because one of his sisters was to tie the knot in Raipur on February 10. The note, however, did not mention the impending marriage.

The relatives and neighbours were perplexed by the crime and the reasons because Anand never gave any inkling of having trouble.