Jadu Bansha follows four friends, Balli, Kripamoy, Abhay and Surjo, meandering through their lives in Calcutta. The angriest of them, Surjo, steals a golden lamp from his house and sells it to Ganapati, affectionately called Gana da. Gana da, a kindly shopkeeper, agrees to pay him as soon as he can sell it. Gana da himself is surrounded by financial crises, with his lover and her two unmarried sisters depending on him. He is repeatedly taunted by his neighbours for this. His past is narrated by Surjo. Gana da is an erstwhile student who earned a stable government job. However, he quit the job to open his own agency. Barely able to keep his head above water, Gana da cannot pay Surjo the entire sum, and Surjo aggressively warns him that he will return for it.
Surjo shares a troubled relationship with his widowed sister. His love life is full of conflict as well: his lover Mala is pregnant with someone else’s child. His friend Kripamoy’s mother commits suicide, and Abhay, his other friend, searches for employment in vain. When Surjo visits Gana da again, he is unable to pay him the money and he asks him to return the lamp. However, Gana da’s lover’s sister has eloped with it. An angry Surjo along with his friends thrashes Gana da. The next day, they are dismayed to hear that Gana da has committed suicide. As his body is being carried to the cemetery, the friends regret their actions and join the funeral procession.