The dim fluorescent lights of the small, isolated police station room flickered overhead, casting long shadows on the cracked walls. It was well past midnight, and the station was eerily quiet except for the occasional distant hum of a fan. Inspector Arjun Singh sat behind a worn wooden desk, his crisp khaki uniform hugging his broad shoulders and muscular frame. He was in his mid-thirties, sharp-featured with a neatly trimmed mustache that gave him an air of authority mixed with subtle menace. His eyes, dark and calculating, scanned the young woman sitting nervously across from him.

Mishika was twenty-two, a college student with a slender, curvaceous figure that her simple salwar-kameez struggled to conceal. Her long black hair cascaded down her back, and her innocent doe-like eyes darted around the room in fear. She had been called in for "questioning" regarding a theft at her neighbor's house. She hadn't done anything wrong, but Arjun had made sure the summons sounded urgent and intimidating.