‘Hotel Rimjhim and Restaurant’, reads a flapping banner hanging from a two-storeyed run-down building on a patch of land, which looks like the middle of nowhere. Overrun by wild shrubs and unkempt trees, it lies on Bijnor-Chandrapur road, in a non-descript corner of Uttar Pradesh called Kiratpur. If not for the banner, this single storey building – with its off-white walls, brown gate, and red-brick borders – would pass off as an old abandoned structure. A man walks past the hotel, and moves back and forth before stopping. “Aaap yahan Kaam kartay hain keya. (Do you work here sir?)”. He deflects. “ Arsalan naam ka koi aadmi kisi ladki ke sath aaya tha kya January mein? (Did a man by the name Arsalan come here sometime in January, with a woman?)”. This time the question is much more specific. He takes a pause, shakes his head, and flatly denies knowing anything. If he is speaking the truth, this man may be the only one in Kiratpur, who does not know about this story.…