The lock-up held five people for 36 hours, and one of them was a child. The SHO is now in his own force's custody.

The lock-up at Yadopur held five people for 36 hours. One of them was a child. This desk will not name that child.

Gopalganj police have arrested their own after an alleged ₹1.3 lakh bribe and that detention. The figure this desk will print is ₹1.3 lakh. It will not split that sum into smaller notes that are not on this card. These remain allegations pending trial.

Superintendent of Police Vinay Tiwari ordered an inquiry after confidential information on 16 August against Yadopur station house officer Sub-Inspector Anil Ram. The charges the SP put on the inquiry were misuse of office, illegal detention and extortion. A serving SHO is not, on those verbs, a man who merely failed a diary entry. He is a man accused of turning a police station into a collection point.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) recorded statements, examined the evidence that was available, and submitted a report on 18 August. Two days from information to report. That is the official clock. This desk does not have the text of that report and will not invent its paragraphs.

Four people were then named and arrested. Anil Ram. Alleged middleman Raju Yadav. Station driver Rakesh Kumar. Chowkidar Mahant Kumar Yadav. The case includes the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with the other provisions the SP said were relevant. A driver and a chowkidar on a corruption file are not ornaments. They are how a station is alleged to have run an illegal lock-up.

Anil Ram and the chowkidar were sent to judicial custody and suspended. Suspension is a service order. Judicial custody is a court holding. Neither is a conviction. The other two names — the alleged middleman and the driver — sit on the same arrest list. All four, investigators have said, admitted involvement during questioning. An admission in a police questioning room is a police sentence. It is not a trial finding. This desk will leave it where it is: a statement attributed to questioning, still waiting on a court.

SP Tiwari's public account is the account this desk will use. The DSP (Headquarters) conducted the inquiry, recorded statements and examined available evidence before submitting a report on 18 August. The four accused — Anil Ram, alleged middleman Raju Yadav, station driver Rakesh Kumar and chowkidar Mahant Kumar Yadav — have been arrested after a case was registered under relevant legal provisions, including the Prevention of Corruption Act. Those are the SP's sentences. This desk will not add a flourish he did not speak.

Five detainees. Thirty-six hours. One of them a minor. ₹1.3 lakh alleged as the bribe. That is the whole civilian side of the file as it stands. The card does not say why the five were picked up. It does not name a village beyond the station. It does not describe the room. It does not give the child's age or a parent's name. Those silences will stay silent. This desk will not name a detained child.

A police station is supposed to be the place a citizen goes when someone else has taken money by force. The allegation here is that the station itself took the money, and kept five people — one of them a child — past any lawful hour. Own-force arrest by the Superintendent is the only official answer this desk has been given. It is a serious answer. It is not the end of the case.

What this desk will not do is reconstruct a night inside the lock-up, invent a bargaining scene, or print a three-way split of ₹1.3 lakh that another desk may have used. The locked figure is ₹1.3 lakh. The locked duration is 36 hours. The locked count is five, including a minor. The locked accused are four. The locked dates are 16 August for the inquiry and 18 August for the DSP's report.

Until a trial court writes, Yadopur is a station whose SHO, driver and chowkidar are accused of running an illegal detention and an extortion. Raju Yadav is accused as the middleman. Anil Ram and Mahant Kumar Yadav are in judicial custody and under suspension. The child is not a name on this page. The rupee line is one line. The SP has already put the Prevention of Corruption Act on it.