The weekly market day in the dusty village of Chandrapur always drew crowds from the surrounding fields and hamlets. Bullock carts rattled in before dawn, vendors laid out sacks of grain, piles of onions, stacks of bright cloth, and cages of squawking chickens. By mid-morning the square was thick with people, the air heavy with the smell of spices, sweat, and dung. In the center stood a raised wooden platform, roughly built from old cart planks, used most weeks for auctioning livestock or settling disputes. Today it served a different purpose.