| "Amriter Mrityu" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
| Series | Byomkesh Bakshi |
| Genre(s) | Crime |
| Preceded by | "Monimondon" |
| Followed by | "Shaila Rahasya" |
"Amriter Mrityu" is a detective story by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay featuring Byomkesh Bakshi and Ajit. This story was published along with 19 other stories in Sharadindu Omnibus Volume II.
The story starts with Byomkesh Bakshi and Ajit investigating a government issue in a small village. Nearby, in outskirts of a forest near by a group of children are arguing among each other. One of the boys, Amrit, proclaims that he had seen a ghost riding on a black horse through the forest. The other boys chide him, saying that he is lying, and challenge Amrit to go in the forest and mark a tree as proof. Amrit accepts the challenges and goes to the forest. After some time, the boys hear a gunshot and run inside the forest. There they see Amrit dead on the ground. The boys, knowing that Byomkesh is in the village, go to him and ask for his help. Byomkesh agrees to help the children, but he is not happy with the police commissioner, who never discussed the murder.
Later in the evening, Byomkesh goes to the murder scene with the children. He notices a house which belongs to Sadanand Sur, who has been out of village for the last 6-7 days and footprints. When enquired, the children tell Byomkesh that nobody has black horse nor a gun. They see Sadanand returning to his house. Byomkesh and the boys hear a bomb blast coming from Sadanands house; quickly they investigate and find Sadanand lying on the ground dead. Byomkesh investigates around and finds that the bomb was kept as a booby trap. Byomkesh suggests that Amrit death was linked to the killing of Sadanand, and whoever wanted to kill Sadanand killed Amrit too.
After further investigation, Byomkesh meets a couple of important persons in the village, who give him more clues as to where the horse might have come from. The post-mortem report of Amrit comes out, and its found that the bullet was shot from a revolver which was used by Americans during World War II. After further questioning of locals, Byomkesh decides to go and meet Sadanands sister. In the station they see Badridas coming and returning after seeing Byomkesh. They also meet Vishwanath who is in station to deal with some business matter. Just as the train starts, they realise that it was a plan by Byomkesh to tell everybody that he was going out of village. Actually, he plans to get down in the next station and goes back to the village as he is convinced that the solution to the mystery lies in the village itself and he hopes to capture the killer the same night.
Back in the village, Byomkesh groups the children and goes to the forest. There he assigns each of them a job. After some time, they see that a person comes riding on a black horse. The next day Byomkesh visits Vishwanath and arrests him for the murder of Amrit and Sadanand Sur. Byomkesh then discloses that Vishwanath used to illegally deal with ammunition and he used to hide them near Sadanands house. Sadanand came to know about it and blackmails Vishwanath. Initially, Vishwanath pays him Rs. 1000 but later on decides to kill him, planting the bomb but when he was planting the bomb that Amrit saw and he had no choice but to kill him.