Plot summary
Recovering from an illness, Byomkesh Bakshi travels to the Santhal Parganas in Bihar (now in Jharkhand) for a change of air, accompanied by his wife, Satyabati, and his friend and chronicler, Ajit Bandyopadhyay. They rent the upper floor of a house owned by Professor Adinath Shome. During their stay, they become acquainted with several locals, including the wealthy Mahidhar Chowdhury and his daughter Rajani.
A series of mysterious events begins when a group photograph taken during a recent picnic goes missing from Mahidhar's house. Similar incidents of missing photographs are reported by others who were part of the group. Concurrently, a talented but impoverished artist named Phalguni Pal starts approaching the same individuals with portraits he claims to have drawn from memory.
As Byomkesh delves deeper, he notices unusual behaviors among the locals. Relationships become strained, and hidden tensions surface. The disappearance of the photographs seems connected to secrets that someone wants to keep hidden. Byomkesh must untangle a web of deceit, uncovering motives rooted in personal desires and societal pressures.
Through keen observation and logical deduction, Byomkesh works to solve the mystery without revealing sensitive personal matters of those involved.
