Plot

Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary is going through his dead beat job when he lands up a big investigation. Three men and a woman have been arrested for the attempt to murder a big prime time journalist Sanjeev Mehra, and Hathi Ram is asked to build a case. Meanwhile, for Mehra, this news couldn't have come at a worse time for he struggles with problems at work and a boss who wants to fire him.—Amazon Prime

In Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishram Bhagat (Vipin Sharma) arrests four youngsters, Vishal "Hathoda" Tyagi (Abhishek Banerjee), Tope "Chaaku" Singh (Jagjeet Sandhu), Mary "Cheeni" Lyngdoh (Mairembam Ronaldo Singh) (a transgender Nepali woman), and Kabir M. (Aasif Khan) after a dramatic chase through the streets and charges them with conspiracy to murder Sanjeev Mehra (Neeraj Kabi), a high-profile journalist who is editor-in-chief at his own national news channel. The 4 accused had left a hotel together in a vehicle and were immediately followed by a car with police personnel in it. Tope recognizes that they are being followed and this results in a chase as the culprits try to lose the cops but are eventually captured when they are cornered from both sides on a bridge. Before being arrested, Tope throws his phone in the water.

The investigation is handed to journeyman policeman Hathi Ram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat) and his partner Imran Ansari (Ishwak Singh). They believe Tope Singh is the ringleader and try to build links between the four arrested. SHO Virk (Anurag Arora) is Hathiram's senior officer who previously trained under him. Bhagat orders Virk to hand the investigation to Hathi as Virk's preferred officer is on a week's leave. Bhagat says that it is an open and shut case. Virk protests that Hathi has no investigative experience for such a big case.

Delhi Intelligence officer Dahiya (Sandeep Mahajan) says that there was an anonymous tip from a public phone that 4 people had gathered at a local hotel Uptown with the intention to murder Mehra. Hathi points out that the intelligence team is supposed to involve local police before the raid, but Bhagat intervenes and says that there was no time between the tip and the raid and hence nobody else could be involved. Vishal has his left thumb missing.

Hathi believes that the world is divided into 3 layers, the heavens (Swarg), the earth, and the hell (Paatal Lok). Paatal Lok is where the insects live. Hathi says that their police station Outer Jamuna Paar, is the real Paatal Lok. Here insects keep killing each other, and while the police investigate, it amounts to nothing. Imran is preparing for IAS. Hathi has been in service for 15 years. Hathi knows that he has been handed a high-profile case precisely because he has no investigative experience.

Mehra is engaged in a power struggle with his bosses who attempt to force him out of the channel. They want Mehra to resign with a severance package, but he refuses and says that he has given 4 years to the channel and built it from scratch. Singh Saab (Akash Khurana) is the owner of Mehra's news station. Jai Malik (Asif Basra) is Mehra's friend and says that Singh knows that Mehra was looking for dirt on their Delhi-Sonipat Expressway deal. Mehra learns from a news channel and 4 people have been arrested for his assassination plot. Mehra suspects that Singh may have ordered his assassination. Jai reminds him that Mehra also finished the political career of Dashrath Kumar 30 years ago.

Mehra has a frayed relationship with his wife Dolly (Swastika Mukherjee), who suffers from crippling anxiety. Sara Matthews (Niharika Lyra Dutt) a young journalist at Sanjeev's station follows Mehra to the bar that he enters instead of going home. Sara engages Mehra is a few drinks and reveals that she is a big fan of his Dashrath story. She was in Cornell when the story broke and that's when she decided to work for him one day.

Hathi is married to Renu (Gul Panag) and has a son Siddharth (Bodhisattva Sharma). Siddharth is failing in school and Hathi finds that Siddharth forged his signatures on the report card.

While running background checks on the arrested, the cops find that Tyagi is a notorious felon and murderer from Chitrakoot, UP, who has never been caught before. Tyagi is suspected of 45 murders among charges of extortion and kidnapping. They bring this information to Mehra but fail to find any link or motive explaining the planned attack.