The Painting

Well-known Detective Rohit Dutta was hired for the loss of Lord Ganesha Painting from the house of Dr Ragav Choudhury.

Dr Ragav Choudhury’s house was located in North Kolkata. He used to stay with his wife, Mrs. Nirmala Choudhury, and two maids. He had a lot of precious things in his house, from showpieces to paintings. Among these items was a painting of Lord Ganesha, which had been given to his grandfather by the Jamindar of Jaipur. The painting was nearly 100 years old, with a ‘JG’ label written at the top.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ragav was out of the station for one week. Upon returning home, he noticed that there was no ‘JG’ label on the painting of Lord Ganesha. He called Detective Rohit Dutta, a friend of his friend, to help him retrieve the painting.

After receiving the call, Detective Rohit Dutta arrived at the scene two days after the loss occurred. He began to interrogate everyone involved, starting with Mrs. Nirmala Choudhury. He questioned her about the events of the past week, to which she explained that she had only left the house three times - twice to go to the shopping mall and once to visit her relatives. The two servants, Sekhar and Rekha, remained at home the entire time, only leaving when instructed by Mrs. Choudhury.

Sekhar and Rekha had been working together at the house for the past 20 years, and both Dr. Ragav and Mrs. Choudhury trusted them fully. Before questioning them, Detective Rohit Dutta checked the CCTV footage to see who had entered the house while Dr Ragav was away. He found that six people had entered the house during that time: the gardener, two food delivery men, the driver, two air conditioning repairmen, and Rajat, Rekha’s cousin.

None of the outsiders stayed for more than two hours, except for Rajat, who stayed for a day. According to Rekha, Rajat had come to visit Dr. Ragav as he had injured his left leg. However, Detective Rohit noticed that Rajat had arrived with a bandage on his left leg but left with it on his right leg. Suspecting foul play, Detective Rohit informed the police, who arrested Rekha and her cousin.

Rekha, being familiar with the house, had conspired to steal the painting. She sent a photograph of the painting to Rajat, who then created a fake one with the help of a painter. When Rajat visited the house, he replaced the original painting with the fake one. The police arrested Rajat and returned the original painting to Dr. Ragav Choudhury.

Moral: Never trust anyone.